Not My Place
by Dashing
Summary: What do you do when you meet the perfect one for you, but they're already with someone else? Modern RxM. She's the new girl and he is loved by everyone, they become friends, but how long can she repress her feelings for him, and does he even want her to?
1. The Arrival

**Author's Note: **This is my second Robin Hood BBC story, and I've already got it all planned out, there will be only ten chapters, but they will be good-sized quality chapters. Keep in mind that Marian will be a bitch for a while, but that's all part of the plan. I adore this story because its actually very similar to something I went through recently and therefore you must be kind in the reviews I plan on making you give

**Not My Place**

**Chapter 1 – the Arrival**

Marian stepped off the plane, rubbing her eyes trying to get herself to wake up; after all, she had no idea where she was and consciousness was crucial at a time like this. She walked down the terminal and down to baggage claim where she spent twenty minutes looking for her black bag that looked just like everyone else's black bag only to find that it had past her at least 5 times before she'd bothered to check it, as big of a pain as that was she refused to be one of this silly 17 year old girls who still act like they're 5 and have bright pink suitcases and miley Cyrus carry ons. Its not cute, its repulsive, or at lease Marian thought so.

Finally she stepped outside into the night; it was just past midnight, but Los Angeles was still a comfortable 70 degrees. The hot weather combined with all the exhaust from the tour busses and the planes made her head spin as she looked around for her father's car. She pulled her suitcase up and sat lightly on the top of it. Never in her life had she wanted a cigarette so badly, but she knew the moment she lit up her father, or whoever he'd employed to get her, would arrive. Life was just like that.

A black town car pulled up next to where she had planted herself on the busy sidewalk. The black tinted window rolled down to reveal a 30 something year old woman with flaming red hair, shrewd amber eyes that had circles from lack of sleep around them, and an attractive face only marred with a cynical expression. "Mary?" asked the woman. "No," replied Marian. The woman frowned and looked down, no doubt checking her piece of paper, "Oh sorry, Mary-Ann?" Marian internally groaned and replied, "Nope, I think Mary-Ann's flight from hickville Georgia hasn't arrived just yet; however, I, Marian, would be overjoyed to keep you company until the red-neck gets here," Marian served her response with a smile and acerbic tongue.

"How kind of you," the woman deadpanned, "Get in," but Marian didn't move, "I was told never to get in the car with strangers," Marian had developed a natural instinct to be a difficult to just about everyone. She called herself jaded; everyone else called her a bitch, which she had always agreed with. Somehow though, being a bitch had made her the most popular girl in her school. it was probably because so many people were afraid of her, but then again maybe it was because her sarcastic wit made them laugh.

The woman sighed and said, "I'm sorry, my name's Clara" but she pronounced it claw-raw, and it was only then that Marian picked up the vague English accent in her voice, "I work for your father," pronouncing father faw-thaw, Marian giggled.

"Nice to meet you," Marian replied diplomatically and she stood up as the driver took her bags and set them in the back of the car. Marian walked around to the other side and hopped in the car. The inside was completely dark and Marian could only barely see Claw-Raw. "So, are you the new secretary?" Marian asked.

"No, I'm the new personal assistant," Clara replied, her voice sardonic and Marian knew they would probably get along quite well, "Your father's secretary is still at the office taking care of a few things…"

"And where's my father?" asked Marian knowingly. "He's at the office…taking care of the secretary." Marian laughed at Clara's comment and the way she said secretary seck-ree-tree. Her father and mother were still legally married although her mother lived in Seattle and her father in Los Angeles. While Marian lived in Seattle that in no way meant she was closer with her mother. Both her parents were famous for their infidelity and thankfully so very consumed with their own lives they rarely paid attention to Marian. Since she was very independent this suited her just fine, but when her mother's new boyfriend had wanted her to be a "real mom" suddenly her living situation was so much tenser. With her mom now paying attention to Marian's actions she decided it would be better to go and live with her father for a while, hence the red eye flight to L.A.

Claw-Raw filled Marian in on how her father was and that she would be starting her new school tomorrow. Once they arrived at her father's house Claw-Raw helped Marian get her bags up to the front step and handed her a key to the house asking if she would be okay, but didn't offer to stay and help her, they never did, and Marian never wanted them to, and said she'd be fine.

She let herself in, locking the door behind her. Marian had spent every Christmas, spring, and Summer Break here since she was born, so she had her own room just the way she liked it. She made her way up the stairs noticing that absolutely nothing had changed. The house looked like it had barely been lived in thanks to her father's team of maids that took very good care of the place.

She reached her room at the end of the hallway and opened the door revealing her bedroom. The room was huge and the tall walls were silver, they actually had the metallic sheen that silver does, everything else in the room was white: the curtains, the bed, the desk, the vanity, the chairs, and the walls had tons of black and white framed photographs on them. All the furniture looked like it could've been taken from Versailles during Marie Antoinette's times, only bleached white. Marian headed towards the white door that led to her walk in closet and flung the door open. A smile crept onto her face as she saw the rows of clothes and shoes laid out neatly.

Although she didn't live there for most of the year, her father wanted it to seem like this was her home, and she shouldn't have to pack to visit her home, so he readily encouraged her to buy clothes online and have them delivered to the L.A. house, and Marian had a love for fashion, and as a result this closet contained clothes she'd been dreaming about for months. That had been her one request on coming here: a school with no uniform.

She grabbed a pair of black silk pajama shorts and a white tank and promptly hopped into the overstuffed bed and fell asleep in an instant.

**~The Next Morning~**

Marian tossed and turned in her bed, sweat pouring off her in rivulets, her breathing was hard and labored as if she was running a marathon. Suddenly she shot up straight in bed, her eyes wide and gasping for breath, her hand clutching her heart. Needless to say, she terrified the maid that was delivering her breakfast.

"Morning Miss Fitzwalter," the small woman said gingerly placing a tray full of scrumptious looking breakfast food on the bed, "Mister Fitzwalter has already left for work, but sends his love and wishes you a good day," the woman said before practically bowing out of the room. Marian laughed and grabbed the orange juice, adding in a healthy portion of vodka from the flask in the bedside drawer and downing it. She gracefully got out of bed and headed to the bathroom attached to her room. She put her ipod into the speakers and blasted some 3Oh!3 as she showered.

Twenty minutes later she got out of her closet and examined her outfit, now she was not vain, but it was her first day and she didn't want to spend the rest of the year as a social pariah. She had on black ankle boots with no heel, black short shorts that showed off her long legs, which were almost completely covered by the very thin distressed blue vee neck, it was paper thin and looked like it had been worn a thousand times with its frayed end, but really it had just cost a ridiculous amount. She pulled a thin black blazer on and added her customary chunky silver rings as well as several silver chains with small charms on them. By this time her ink black waves had dried and her look was complete.

Marian knew she was beautiful, but it would've been surprising if she weren't. Her mother had been a very successful model, and her father had been quite handsome back in the day. They'd married for attraction, which taught Marian that beauty was really the least important thing, but that didn't stop her from using hers to her own advantage sometimes. She grabbed her messenger bag and some toast before heading downstairs. She was vaguely surprised to find the house bustling with people, but then again nothing really surprised her much anymore.

She ran in Claw-Raw on the stairs. "Oh! I was just looking for you. Your father-"

"Yes I heard, the kind Scandinavian maid told me, as she was offering me a wide variety of breakfast treats," Marian quipped.

"Ah, I didn't know your father had a Scandinavian maid. Anyway I'm here to take you to school!" Clara said brightly. Marian tilted her head with a quizzical expression on her face. "Okayyy," she said hesitantly. Then she realized she didn't know where the school was actually located. They headed out to the car and Clara seemed intent on giving Marian the whole history of the school.

"You're really very lucky to get to go there. It's one of the top private schools **(A/N a private school in America is a public school in England)** in California. It's very elite and expensive, the students all come from very good families."

"Great, a school of snobs, I'll fit right in," Marian grinned and Clara laughed, "I was trying to put it more gently, but yes."

They arrived at the school in no time and Marian took in the campus that was teeming with students. The car let them off near the headmaster's office and Clara turned to her and said, "Alright, this is where we part Marian. Have a good day, oh and your father is having a business party tonight, I'm sure you have something suitable to wear in that extensive closet of yours." And with those final parting words Claw-Raw was gone, probably to go do some actual important work.

Marian hesitantly looked at the door to the headmaster's office and let out a large sigh before dejectedly opening it. Behind the classically wooden desk sat a graying man in a suit with a placard reading "Headmaster".

"Miss Fitzwalter! Take a seat!" he exclaimed, far to cheery for Marian's taste, but she sat like a good little student. "Let's see, Let's see," he said pulling open her file. "Ah yes, you know we don't normally accept students mid semester, but your father was very persuasive," Marian smirked, she had heard that the Fitzwalter Library would be complete in time for her graduation as well, "Your grades from your previous school are _very_ impressive. A 4.2 is no easy GPA to achieve. Your teachers all wrote you sterling recommendations, and your extra curriculars are extensive. I'm positive that you will fit in very well here. Now, you'll be taken on a tour by one of our students. His name is Robin Locksley; he is one of our best. Student Body President, Capitan of the Soccer team and Debate team, perfect student; everyone loves him you're very lucky," The old man's face lit up as he talked about the boy. Marian had to physically restrain herself from rolling her eyes.

Just then there was a knock on the door interrupting him. Marian didn't bother turning around as she heard a voice fill the room, "Hey Mr. P, you wanted me to tour someone?" hearing someone's voice without seeing their face gives you an odd perspective of them. Robin's voice was very clear and his tone was full of respect towards the man, it had a gravelly aspect to it as well as somehow simultaneously being smooth. Overall Marian found it very wonderful.

"Robin M'boy! This is Miss Marian Fitzwalter, I'd like you to give her a tour of the campus, and help her adjust to the school," Robin nodded and the headmaster turned to Marian and said, "You are in very capable hands Miss Fitzwalter. Be sure to tell your father I say hello."

Marian smiled charmingly and said, "Of course, thank you so much Headmaster." And she stood to follow Robin out the door, but he had not left yet, and was standing holding the door open for her. She was not surprised at all to find that he was very attractive. He had golden tan skin, which she immediately envied (living in Seattle where it rains for 90% of the year made a tan on her porcelain skin impossible, plus she tended to burn), shaggy dark brown hair, which fell into his green eyes that were flecked with gold, and the perfect body, not to mention he was tall, and Marian had always had a thing for tall guys.

So of course, she immediately decided she didn't trust him. It was easy to have teachers fooled by a 'respectful' persona, she did it herself. Get them wrapped around your finger and for the rest of the year you're safe, but she couldn't help but remember the sincerity of his respectful tone.

"So Marian, where you from?" he asked revealing perfectly straight teeth.

"What makes you think I'm not from here?" she asked, seeing no reason to be nice when she already decided not to like him.

He laughed and replied, "it's nearly 65 degrees out, everyone that's from L.A. is bundled up," he indicated to the other students, and Marian realized it was true. She was probably the only girl in shorts. She laughed at their ridiculousness.

His smile was much more casual now that he had gotten her to loosen up, "I'm Robin," he said extending a hand. She shook it liking that his hand was cool and not sweat and clammy. "I know, the headmaster told me all abut you," she replied with a grin.

Robin groaned and said, "Please don't believe him, whatever he said, I think he's got a bit of a crush on me."

Marian laughed and said, "Well who could blame him? I mean it must be hard to resist the Captain of the Debate team," she teased.

He laughed good-naturedly and replied, "Be nice or I might recruit you and then you'd be surrounded by the entire debate team and feel the full effect of our sexiness."

She laughed as well realizing that she may have misjudged him.

**Just the first chapter, but plz review!!**


	2. The Disappointment

5

**Author's Note : thank you to all 1 of you that reviewed **

**Not My Place**

**Chapter 2 - The Disappointment **

"Hey Robin!" a meek little voice sounded as they came out of the administration offices.

"Hey there Luke," Robin replied with an easy smile, "How did the science competition go?"

"First place!" the little freshman squeaked before noticing Marian and blushing bright red and practically running away. Robin just shook his head still grinning as the short boy ran off.

"Stop glaring or you'll scare everyone off Marian," Robin teased smirking at her. Marian's glare immediately intensified as she said, "I have a feeling that it's a natural reaction to your presence." Robin laughed and said, "But you're so much prettier when you smile," Marian tried to keep the scowl on her face, but it slid into a grin as Robin charmed her.

"Rob! Yo dude!" a loud booming voice called out to them. A big burly guy came tumbling towards them; his mop of curly blonde locks bouncing, "Did ya hear man? We're in the championships. We play the Loyola next week, you better help us practice this week those plays you drew up for us were un-fricken-believable!"

"It was all you guys," Robin said shaking his head modestly, "But I'll definitely be at the game Emmet." The guy, Emmet apparently, clapped Robin on the shoulder and gave Marian an appreciative look before continuing on.

"So Marian, where to first?" Robin asked. "Ummm my locker maybe?" she asked, and handed him the piece of paper with the building on it. "Alright," and they started walking towards a large brick building. Robin was still examining the paper Marian had given him and she took that time to take in the campus. It truly was beautiful. There were trees everywhere; it looked more like a dense forest than it did a school. Marian could tell that unless you knew the school it would be very easy to get lost; she groaned. "What?" Robin asked. "It's just, look at this campus Robin! I'm going to get so lost!"

"That's why you have me," Robin said charmingly, she just rolled her eyes, which again caused him to laugh. She just couldn't understand him at all. Every time she was rude he just laughed, as if he found her entertaining and had never seen someone roll their eyes at him before. Plus there was the uncomforting fact that the headmaster had been right, practically every person they had passed had smiled or waved or said hi to Robin; in Seattle people normally avoiding the popular kids like the plague they didn't flock to them. It was all very backwards.

They'd reached the large brick building and Robin pulled the door open for her, his hand immediately went to the small of her back to guide her in. Marian nearly gasped. The moment his hand touched her back through the thin material of her shirt she felt like she was suddenly a thousand different places all at once. She felt like she had been in that same position, his hand caressing, dare she say it, lovingly, the small of her back a thousand different times, like it was a causal gesture that they had done since forever. Warmth spread through her whole body like liquid honey that gave off electrical sparks.

She quickly walked through the door and out of his reach before he could notice her strange behaviour, because that couldn't be normal could it? "Take the stairs on your left," Robin said and Marian nodded and began to climb, but out of the corner of her eye she saw the hand Robin had touched her with tightly balled up into a fist, so tightly that the knuckles were white. Her mind was filling with questions, but she tried to act as normal as possible, which for her meant snarky sarcastic comments, luckily he seemed to be almost better at bantering than she was.

Robin had shown her to all of the rooms her classes were in; apparently they shared over ½ of them together. She knew he was purposefully extending the tour, but she didn't know if it was to get out of class or because he genuinely liked her.

In the few hours since they'd met Marian felt as if she and Robin were the best of friends already, there was just something about him that put her completely at ease, but then she would wonder if he was that way with everyone and the ease was gone.

"So, now to show you something _truly_ helpful," Robin said leading her away from the school walkways and into the dense grouping of trees that surrounded the school on all sides. "Robin are we even allowed to go in there?" Marian asked.

"Of course not, this is highly against the rules," Robin replied, "That's why its important to _not_ get caught," Marian was about to protest, but then Robin said, "Unless your to scared to go? Because then we just stay on the trail and I can show you library again?" he offered a mischievous sparkle in his eye. He knew she wouldn't turn down such a thinly veiled challenge. "Lead the way," was Marian's reply.

**~ 20 minutes later ~ Deep in the Heart of the Forest **

Marian sighed contentedly as she and Robin made their way under the canopy of leaves that whispered in the breeze. "Bored?" Robin asked leaning against a tree, his arms crossed over his broad chest and his hair falling into his eyes slightly, his lips were shaped in their customary grin, but she could tell it was fake.

"Not at all," the grin became real, "Just sort of…happy and homesick all at once," Marian explained. When he cocked an eyebrow she felt the need to elaborate. "Seattle is a big city, but it's surrounded by huge forests on account of all the rain. It's practically a sea of green. I lived in the city, but I had horses near the forests and spent a lot of my time there, I've always loved them, the forests."

Robin smiled as he watched her ice blue eyes take on a glassy dreamy look as she told him about her home. He found himself irrationally pleased that they shared a love of the forest, he found himself irrationally glad that she seemed to be enjoying herself, and in fact he found himself irrationally happy the entire time he'd been around her.

"Well these forests are not only pretty, but they are quickest way anywhere, if you know their secrets," Robin told her.

"But I don't know their secrets," Marian pointed out unnecessarily.

"Well why did you think I brought you out here?" he asked laughing.

"So that you could murder me and not have to worry about cleaning up the mess?" she suggested, when in actuality she hadn't even questioned him, it just seemed sort of weirdly natural to follow him and know she would be in no danger. He laughed and said, "You'll fit in perfectly with the gang."

"Bloods or crypts?" she asked sarcastically.

"Well look who brushed up on her L.A. stereotypes before moving," he teased laughing when she stuck her tongue out at him, "But seriously they'll love you."

"Ahh but will I love them," she questioned philosophically.

"You wont be able to resist their charms," Robin said confidently.

"You simply _must_ tell me more then," she requested sitting down on a large tree root, and Robin sat by the tree across from her, the soles of their feet pressed up against each other.

"Well there's Much, he's been my friend since before I was even born, his family works with mine, so it was kind of inevitable, he knows me better than anyone," Marian watched as Robin's face adopted a gentleness to it when he spoke about Much, like he was talking about a younger brother, someone who needed to be protected, "And then there's Allan. God I cant even begin to describe Allan! He's such an asshole, but really, really deep down, past all the snarky and sarcastic comments is a good guy. He'll charm you over in a minute," Marian scoffed, but Robin just laughed and told her of Allan's status as a player in the school, "And Will too, you'll like him, everyone likes him. He's got the quiet artist type down, except minus the annoying brooding and cutter habits," Marian laughed, "He's actually refreshingly chivalrous, which the group need. He and Allan balance each other out; they were good friends before they joined our gang. And then there's Eve, she's a sweetheart, and she's got a major jones for Much. She can be a little flaky, but she's nice. Last but not least there's Djaq."

"Oooh are you going to try and set me up with Jack too, you know if it doesn't work out with Allan or Will," Marian teased.

Robin laughed and said, "Sorry Djaq's already taken."

"Aww shucks," Marian said sarcastically.

"…By me," Robin finished.

Marian froze. Had she heard him right?

"What?"

"Yea, we've been dating for almost 7 months now, oh and its D-J-A-Q, as in djaq, a _girl_. _She_'s been my _girl_friend for almost 7 months," Robin was grinning. Marian gave a forced chuckle, but on the inside she felt as if she'd been electrocuted. He was _taken_!?!?!! She mentally scolded herself for developing such a crush so quickly, but she couldn't help it. She felt like she was _supposed_ to be with him.

Marian shook her head and cleared all thoughts from it. He had been flirting with her; that much she was sure of, and there was definitely chemistry between them, but she steadfastly refused to help any guy cheat on his girlfriend. She glanced up at Robin who was animatedly explaining about how fan-fucking-tastic Djaq was, but damn all she could focus on was how adorably cute he looked.

She shook her head again and pinched the inside of her elbow. Clearly she could not rely on her self-control to keep her from trying to break them up, which is where her first instinct had gone. If she was being totally honest with herself when he had said "by me" her first thought had been "well not for long" she didn't deserve such a nice guy, she knew that. She didn't quite trust herself around him, and she vowed she would stay away from him.

"Sorry Robin," she cut him off suddenly, "Not that they don't all sound really great, but I'd like a chance to make my own friends." She was being rude, she knew that, but Robin seemed oblivious of that fact, or he was tactfully choosing to ignore it.

"Of course! I don't mean to pressure you into anything, but if you find yourself needed a table to sit at, feel free to come and join us." He didn't even seem remotely disappointed, only abashed for assuming she'd jump at the chance to join their gang, which of course sent her off into a frenzy wondering how much of his 'flirting' she had misinterpreted, maybe he was only trying to be nice. She pinched the inside of her elbow.


	3. The Reason Behind It All

5

**Author's Note: Thanks to the fact that it's finals week and all of my friends decided that instead of going out they will be studying on Friday night I am stuck at home, and because I refuse to study on a Friday night, based on principal alone, you lot get a special pre-weekend update! Consider yourselves lucky that I have no friends willing to slack off with me. Keep the update's coming plz, if there's anything you'd particularly like to see in the story message me and I'll put it in there. = P**

**Not My Place**

**Chapter 3 – The Reason Behind It All**

It had been several weeks since Marian had moved out to L.A. and she was adjusting rather well; she had only thrown 3 tantrums, attended her father's business parties without complaint showing him she was still the little social butterfly she'd always been, made friends with the Scandinavian maid who was actually Russian, and somehow had firmly and unwillingly ended up with a new best friend: Robin Locksley.

There were a lot of different friend groups she could've joined, but after meeting Robin that first day, he had become unavoidable. She had honestly tried to stay away from him, but he was always there in her classes, IMing her at night, or running into him in the woods, and…well…if she was being honest she could've tried a lot harder to avoid him, but she just couldn't gather the will power. If any other person had done this she would've considered them a stalker and filed for a restraining order, but she couldn't help her heart rate from increasing every time he was near her, hoping to see him every time she turned a corner, and making sure she used all of his secret passages, not only because they were faster, but also because they increased the chance of a run in.

"Marian!!" a loud accented voice penetrated her sleep. She sat straight up in bed. Her maid pulled the white curtains back revealing yet another sunny day in Los Angeles. City of Angles my ass, she thought, more like city of never ending Sunshine. She sighed, the constant paradise weather was actually starting to get to her, and it made her lose all perspective on the world. It was December, in her mind, it should not be 80 degrees, and yet the heat wave persisted. Oh how she longed for a good thunderstorm.

"Yes, yes I'm up Elva," Marian replied lazily as she fell back into her bed. Elva was not persuaded, she ripped the covers from Marian's sleep clouded body and snapped her fingers at the girl.

"No! You must get ready now," the maid had already set out her usual breakfast by the foot of the bed, just out of reach, guaranteeing Marian would actually have to move. Marian smiled at Elva's trickiness, but it she knew she could just get breakfast at school, they had a kick ass cafeteria, so she was barely tempted, "I made your juice just the way you like it," Elva taunted. Marian opened an eye before sighing again and getting out of bed.

She grabbed her vodka orange juice and kissed Elva on the cheek before skipping into the bathroom and blasting The Foals from her speakers. After her shower she pulled on a loose crème colored cardigan that fell down to about her thighs over a simple black tank top and black skinny jeans. Her long elegant fingers were adorned with her customary chunky silver rings and she put in silver earrings that had two dangling feathers that made a tinkling sound when she walked. Her feet slipped into gladiator sandals and she grabbed her messenger bag: ready to go.

She skipped out the door and stopped dead in her tracks. There in her driveway was parked a black '67 Chevy impala with Robin Locksley looking sexy enough to kill sitting in the drivers seat. Her mouth actually began to water at the sight. She shook her head and walked over to the passenger window, which was rolled down, she leant in so her head was inside the car and asked, "What's this?"

"The car? An impala. Me? Your chauffer. Me in the car at your house? A ride." He said grinned as she opened the door and hopped in. she caressed the car's interior, it was all smooth black leather that felt like butter as it brushed the pads of her fingers.

"If you're done molesting my car, can you close the door so we can get going?" Robin asked laughing. He was almost always perpetually smiling, which Marian found annoying in most people, but in him it seemed endearing. "Just because this car attracts more women than you do there's no reason to be jealous," Marian replied. Robin laughed and took off down the street towards school.

They had bantered the entire way there and continued their conversation as they got out of the car and walked through the student parking lot, but kept getting interrupted by what Marian had dubbed "his fan group" but they had seen Marian with him so often in the past couple weeks that now they said hi to her as well. It was a nice gesture, but she mostly ignored them. They were just being nice to her because she was with Robin, and she didn't like people who were fake like that. It bothered her that her group was called fake all the time by these people when they were doing the same to her, yet called themselves polite! Marian had fallen in with the resident 'popular group' and surprise surprise she fit right in with the snobs. Secretly she sort of detested them, but she knew this was the group she was supposed to belong to, so she put up what Robin had dubbed her "bitch front" and fit right into place with them.

What Marian found odd was that some people would occasionally ask Robin how Djaq was doing, which in itself was not weird, but what was strange was that they would never shoot her any 'he already has a girlfriend, so back off' looks at her like she deserved, they just seemed genuinely curious. In fact, not one person had gotten on her case about spending so much time flirting with a guy who's taken.

She had come to 3 possible conclusions as to why that was :

A – people didn't like Djaq and were secretly hoping Marian would steal him away, which seemed unlikely, as most of them didn't even like Marian.

B – Marian was overanalyzing the situation and Robin actually spent twice as much time with Djaq than he did with her, so people _knew_ nothing was going on, and Robin clearly wasn't flirting back (even though it seemed like it) so they were secretly laughing at her.

C – Robin was just a genuinely good guy and they all trusted him so much it didn't even occur to them that he would cheat on Djaq.

She knew it was C. It broke her heart.

At her old school Marian had fallen in with the same sort of people she was with now; in fact, if you changed the names and haircolours they might just be the same people. She had seen numerous guys cheating on their girlfriends, not that she'd ever been cheated on, and she always dumped her boyfriends before they had the chance, but she'd seen it, real up close.

She'd genuinely loved her life in Seattle, even though it came with an absentee mom and a slight drinking disorder developed at the age of 16. Particularly the year before she'd left. She had tons of 'friends' but only one real true i-will-hug-you-when-your-sad-without-you-needing-to-ask-and-eat-ice-cream-with-you-even-though-I'll-gain-weight-and-wont-even-care-because-that's-how-much-i-love-you-friend. Her name was Sarah.

They'd been closer than sisters until Sarah had gotten a boyfriend. Or perhaps that was incorrect, Sarah had lots of boyfriends, but nothing changed until she found 'the one'. It had happened over summer while Sarah was staying with family in England; Marian had scoffed at the letters about how "in love" she was, but on the outside she was a supportive best friend, but Sarah knew her well enough to know the difference. But Sarah thought she was in love, maybe she even was, and when she came back to Seattle, she brought him with her, without telling Marian. All Marian knew was that she and Sarah would meet up at a party that night.

Marian couldn't have been more excited to see Sarah again, and was really excited for the party as it was supposed to be out of control. The last big blowout before school started again. When Marian arrived it was just that: music blaring, people practically having sex on the couches, dancing in a way that should be illegal, tons of alcohol, drugs if you knew who to talk to, but no Sarah. Marian figured she wasn't there yet, so she set about having a good time, which for her included a hell of a lot of alcohol. That night she met a guy, no one special, but he was cute enough to hold her attention until Sarah got there. She was so far past drunk at that point all she really knew was that he had an interesting accent.

They started hooking up, and didn't stop. They found a bedroom, or rather he found a bedroom since she could barely stand, and then since there was a bed standing was no longer an issue. I think you can guess what happened.

After Marian was still in a haze, and she started to feel sick, alcohol poisoning she thought at the time as she looked up at the guy who had his arms all wrapped around her, when the door to the bedroom flew open. Marian reached for the sheet to cover herself, but stopped her movements when she recognized the voice that was screaming. It was Sarah.

Immediately tears were in Sarah's eyes and she started hurly accusations at Marian faster than Marian could hear them, but eventually the message got into her alcohol sodden brain: she had slept with Sarah's "one". She tried to tell Sarah that she hadn't known who he was, but Sarah just continued on saying how Marian had never been supportive and had known exactly what she was doing. Marian had never had so many awful things said about her in such a short time, and what was worse was that all of them were true.

Marian always had though that she was better than her group, but only hung out with them because they had the best parties, but Sarah wasn't in that group, probably because she was a genuinely good person, and was constantly trying to her Marian to fall in with her friends. That night Sarah told Marian that she was just like her friends who she professed to be better than, and she was completely right. Maria was where she belonged, in a group full of cheaters and backstabbers and druggies and drunks. Sarah had run off and Marian had turned to the guy in the bed to yell at him to go after her, but he was already making out with one of the girls who had seen this display.

Marian would never be able to forget the feeling of knowing she had ruined Sarah's life, Sarah had no best friend and now no "one". But then it hit her that Sarah wasn't alone, Sarah had a family who loved her and lots of real friends because she was deserving of that love. Marian however was widely adored for no reason other than being pretty and rich. Maybe she had slept with him on purpose, subconsciously of course, because she was jealous. She had never in her entire life felt lower, rock bottom wasn't just an expression, she felt like she was being stoned to death with emotions and realizations. It nearly killed her.

The next day it was worse, she'd woken up with a killer hangover and gone to see Sarah before school, but she wasn't allowed in Sarah's house. At school Marian was congratulated by her friends who had never liked Sarah, and when Sarah refused to talk to Marian, she started accepting the congrats with a smile.

She was a horrible person and she knew it, so when the opportunity came to move, at first she thought she could turn over a new leaf, but on the plane she realized that she would still be the same person inside, a person people shouldn't love because she would only be cruel to them, and decided to stop pretending and stop molly coddling herself into believing she was a good person worthy of love, and just except it.

Robin's voice broke into her revere, "So Marian, is today the day you'll finally consent to meeting my humble gang?" Her gaze shot up into Robin's bright green eyes that were full of love for the world, goodness, humour, and nearly broke out into tears. She couldn't help another person cheat again, she couldn't hurt another person so undeserving just because she herself was horrible.

Marian may have been a lot of things, but a crier she was not. She hadn't cried since she was 6 and wasn't about to start now, so she swallowed her tears and said in a harsh unfeeling voice, "No." and walked away leaving Robin behind to stare at her confused as she entered the school.

**Review!!**

**Update for next chapter will be really quick maybe even later today, I'm inspired.**

**If you love me…**


	4. The Crusades

5

**Author's Note: This is how it works**

**Update ******** Review ******** Update ******** Review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**= P**

**Not My Place**

**Chapter 4: The Crusades **

The day had gone by without event, Marian sat in class, raised her hand, aced her test, but all she was rally concentrating on was avoiding Robin, for real this time. She hadn't been mean to him earlier per say, but she had been rude maybe…gruff. It would be so easy to go and apologize and smile winsomely up at him, and he'd forgive her in an instant, it would be so easy.

She contemplated this as she walked with two of her new friends Bitch and Barbie, otherwise known as Devina Vaisey and Anni Clun. Devina was fiercely gorgeous, and had immediately approached Marian the first time she saw her saying that they just _had_ to be friends since their looks complimented each other, which strangely was true. Devina had this platinum blonde hair and dark brown eyes that were nearly black while Marian had ink black locks with ice blue eyes. They made a stunning pair, especially since Devina was always scowling and whenever Marian was around her she was scowling at her own misfortune, so they looked doubly as intimidating. Anni however had strawberry blonde hair and absolutely no brain cells, at least Devina was slightly manipulative, which made her a little interesting. They gossiped as they headed towards the library.

"So Maz," Marian cringed at the nickname, "There's this killer party this weekend. The whole groups gunna be there, so will you of course." Devina's tone made it clear that Marian had no choice, and she was still too new to be challenging the pre-existing authority in the group.

"Of course D, looking forward to it," Marian smiled and Devina's eyes shined with approval.

"Oh My God!! What are we going to wear??" Anni asked excitedly, "We _have_ to coordinate girls!" Marian resisted an eye roll, but shot a look to Devina who smirked in agreement with Anni's ridiculousness.

"Come over to my house before and we can all get ready together, it'll be perfect," said Devina as they walked through the doors to the library. Inside was the hushed silence of academia and the smell of books, Marian nearly shivered in delight.

"Come on, let's get the books we need and go, this place gives me the creeps," Devina said not bothering to keep her voice down. Marian shook her head in wonderment. They had been assigned a project for history class, Devina was the War of the Roses, Anni's was Serfdom in the Middle Ages, and Marian had the Crusades.

Luckily they were all in the same section and as they perused the shelves Marian caught a glimpse of an occupied table a few stacks away, and seated there was none other than Robin. It was almost like fate kept throwing them together. Marian had a slight internal debate before taking a step towards his direction.

"Going to have a chat with your boyfriend?" Devina's harsh voice mocked. Marian stopped in her tracks; she hadn't heard Devina approach at all.

"Not if your ready to go, I already got the books I need, so I figured I'd go over and say hi," Marian explained trying to appear casual.

"The look in your eye says that what you'll doing is more like sexually assaulting him in the stacks," Devina said with a still mocking tone. Marian laughed, but inside she was seething, "But I'd try and resist the urge if I were you."

Marian asked, "Because of Djaq?" regretting it the moment the words were out of her mouth.

"Not really, I've got nothing against people looking outside their relationship for enjoyment, I do it myself quite often," Devina replied, the mocking tone gone and replaced now with a more calculating one, "But it's more that fact that it's Robin. All I'm saying is don't waste too much of your time on him. He's got eyes for Djaq and cant see the rest of us. Lot's of girls have tried, most prettier than you, and failed, so just keep that in mind."

"Speaking from experience?" Marian asked a touch smugly.

"As a matter of fact I am. See you at my house around 7," Devina said before walking away taking Anni with her telling her that Marian had to stay and finish up.

Marian took a deep breath before heading towards his table. "Mother F***er!!" she heard him exclaim throwing his pencil against the opposite wall before slumping back into his chair and running his hands through his hair. Marian couldn't hold in the laugh that threatened to bubble up, but managed to contain it to a quiet giggle.

His head swerved around to see her, his lips twisting up into a grin when he saw who it was. "Hello there _Maz_."

Marian groaned and set her books down on the table, gracefully slipping into the set cross from him, "I swear to god I will castrate you if you ever call me that again."

"But I could swear I heard the Sheriff calling you that earlier today, and I thought to myself 'Maybe Marian will dain to talk to me again if I call her Maz because she seems to love her new nickname so much' and look at that, it worked," he said playfully.

Marian rolled her eyes and said, "Well its good to know that I have a stalker," he smiled, "And coincidentally, I am sorry about my freak out this morning, lack of caffeine makes me a bit of a bitch."

"Oh darling the caffeine has nothing to do with it," Robin said, and Marian slapped his arm with one of her huge books on the Crusades, "Jesus woman it was a joke!" he said laughing causing her to laugh too. For some reason talking to Robin always made her feel giddy and light s if she could just float away.

"Sorry, it's not my fault someone mistook the Crusades as something interesting and then decided to write a book that weighs more than I do on the subject," she said putting the book down. "I am truly offended Marian," Robin said his elbows on the table and his hands clasped under his chin, "The Crusades are arguably the most interesting even in all of history,"

"I pray to god that's a joke," Marian said.

"Not at all, seriously I'm not really a history buff, but the Crusade's are fascinating, you're so lucky to get that as your topic, I got stuck with England's relationship with Ireland through the ages."

"That's way better! The Crusades were awful! Every time I even think about it I get mad at the stupid men who left their wives and families to go off and chase glory! It was so stupid! So many of them died for no reason at all," Marian exclaimed.

"It's the exact opposite! They were being brave! They were defending their King and Country. And okay maybe they wanted glory, but think about it if they hadn't gone to war you wouldn't know anything about them, this way they made their mark on the world. King Richard was a great king, one of England's best, and if he hadn't been killed before returning home I'm sure he would've ruled peacefully," Robin said confidently.

"Most of them didn't even know what they were fighting against," Marian said shaking her head contradicting Robin.

"You can't prove that, there's no evidence to suggest that they didn't educate themselves while they were there. You're basing that purely on the assumption that the townspeople they turned into soldiers were idiots, which they weren't," Robin said.

"Oh please, most of them couldn't even read, let alone read the Koran, but what they could've done was stay at home with their wives and children and provided for them, but no they left them to starve," Marian protested.

Robin let out a laugh and said, "Marian I know I said I wouldn't do it, but you _have_ to join the debate team." Marian laughed realizing her face was red from their argument. "Maybe I will, but that's enough about the Crusades, what were you doing before I came in all my gloriousness and interrupted you from?"

Immediately Robin's playful expression turned dark and he shot the most hate filled glare to the notebook in front of him, she hadn't though he was capable of such a mean look, she hadn't thought anyone was capable of it. "Trigonometry," he said darkly.

She laughed, "That's what all the cursing was about? Robin," she smiled shaking her head.

"Don't get all condescending with me Marian," Robin said a bit harshly, "This is difficult." Marian hid her inner smile; apparently the golden boy didn't like being bad at something.

"If it's so difficult why don't you ask for help? I've always been good at math, and I'm offering," she suggested.

"I can do it fine on my own, thank you."

"Maybe, but I am very concerned for the welfare of your pencils if you keep trying on your own," Robin glared at her, "For God's sakes Robin I'm only offering to help, its not an insult, its me trying to be nice, take advantage of it, I doubt it will happen again any time soon."

Robin gave a big sigh and said, "Fine," and Marian laughed as she moved over to his side of the table, so they could sit next to each other, "You'd think I was making you submit to Chinese Water Torture or something,"

"You might as well, it'd be just as bad." Robin grumbled. She rolled her eyes and began explaining.

**An Hour Later**

"Now was that _so_ terrible?" Marian asked as she packed up her books. Tutoring Robin had been an interesting experience. He was a very quick learner, but stubborn as hell. His problems stemmed from the fact that he was convinced he was bad at math rather than from any lack of skill.

"Yes, but you made it bearable. The least I can do for all your hard work torturing me is offer you a ride home," and Marian accepted.

Once they were in the car Marian asked, "So are you going to that party tonight?"

Robin was driving but he glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes and said, "Yeah, you?"

"Uh-huh, Devina sort of demanded it," she grinned ironically, "So at least there'll be one friendly face," she said and the grin turned into a real smile. Robin knew she meant him.

Her mood swings were giving him whiplash; one moment they were friends, the next she couldn't stand to be around him, and the next it seemed like she was flirting with him. He couldn't figure her out, but that wasn't going to stop him from trying.

They pulled up to her house and he said, "I'll see you tonight then," before speeding off.

**I've decided that the next chapter will be partly in Robin's POV**


	5. The Party

7

**Author's Note: So exams are over!!! And I spent the entire day at that beach with friends and am in such a generous mood, so here's the update!**

**This is how it works**

**Update ******** Reviews ******** Update ******** Reviews!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**Not My Place**

**Chapter 5: The Party**

Robin was staring at a point just above Much's head as his friend told a story to the gang; however, his mind was far far away. The gang was gathered at Robin's house, like always, before the party. It was always his house because his father was always gone on business and whatever gold-digger he was married to at the time usually stayed in the West Wing of the house while Robin basically had control of the East Wing. The guys were together in the lounge: Allan and Will playing a video game half listening to Much's story while trying to decapitate each other, Much eating a sandwich while excitedly exclaiming something, Djaq and Eve in the bathroom putting on make-up, but the door was wide open so they could be part of the conversation as well, and Robin was staring at a point just above Much's head.

"ROBIN!" Someone screamed as a pillow hit his head breaking his staring contest with the wall.

"What the hell?!?! Why are you yelling?!!" Robin replied having been literally knocked out of his revere. "Well I wouldn't have had to yell if you'd answered me the first four times," Much huffed in reply. The others laughed at this, but Robin didn't care, "Sorry Much, I just can't stop thinking about her."

"Marian?" asked Allan as Will paused their game and they turned around to face him. "Yeah, I can't explain it, I just _know_ she's meant to be part of our group, but she's resisting it _so_ hard," he sighed.

"Don't worry Rob, she'll come around," Allan said trying to consol his friend. "Yea, remember how much persuading it took Allan and Will in the beginning?" Djaq injected walking over to the boys and ruffling Robin's hair as she sat down next to him. He automatically wrapped an arm around her waist, "You haven't been wrong yet Robin, you brought us all together, if you think she's meant to be with us then you'll make it happen. You always do," Robin smiled a thanks to her. "She'll be at the party tonight. It'll be the perfect time to introduce her to you all," he said. "I dunno Robin, maybe she needs more time before meeting us," Eve pitched in.

"No," Robin said firmly, "She's already practically self destructive, the sooner she's with us the better. We can't just abandon her when she needs our help."

"I'm not sure Robin, I've seen her around school with Vaisey's group. She seemed pretty content to be Guy's arm candy," Much said, but when Robin glared at him he quickly amended, "I just mean that she looks perfectly happy with her own group. I know you've been right about everyone so far, but doesn't it feel like our group is already complete?"

"Trust me Much, I'm sure," was all Robin said and the rest of them just nodded and went back to their previous activities: Eve and Djaq back to the bathroom and Will and Allan unpaused their game. Much motioned to the kitchen and Robin followed, making sure to close the door behind him.

"Robin, tell me what's really going on," Much said staring right at Robin, who slumped down into one of the stools resting his head in his hands. "I've no idea Much. All I know is that when I met her, I just _knew_. The feeling was ten times stronger than with any of the others, and now when we're all together, like before, I can _feel_ that there's something missing, and I know it's her," Robin paused to trace some sort of design onto the marble countertop, "And I know you've felt it too."

Much looked up from his contemplative stare at his shoes, "How did you know?" he asked. "Each time we recruited another one you always felt it too, like you'd met them before and were supposed to meet them again, so you must feel it with Marian since it's so strong," Robin reasoned, but Much just shook his head and replied, "I feel it, but honestly it was stronger with Eve." Robin sighed thinking that it was probably his friend's thinly veiled feelings for the blonde girl that made him say that.

"But Robin I'm starting to think that maybe you're mind play tricks on you. Maybe you should listen to Eve and give Marian more time," he saw Robin open his mouth to protest, but cut him off saying, "I know you think your dreams are telling you that she's in danger, but maybe they're just dreams and nothing more." Robin's mind flashed back to the dreams he'd been having recently, or maybe nightmares was a better term. Each time was the same: Robin was in immense physical pain and he felt like his skin was on fire and he his throat was burning with thirst, but the worst was that he was watching Marian die in front of him and he was powerless to stop it. The first dream had come the night he'd met her and he'd woken up a little more than shaken and drenched in a cold sweat. At first he'd brushed it off as a weird dream, but continued to keep an extra close eye on her and make sure she was fine. When the dreams persisted, so did he. Truthfully he was terrified that the dreams were trying to tell him something, so he always made sure to talk to her before he went to sleep, hoping it would help him sleep better knowing she was safe, and then first thing in the morning after one of his dreams to reassure himself that she was okay.

"It's not just the dreams though Much, when I see her in the morning sometimes I can smell alcohol on her breath, and I've got nothing wrong with a morning pick me up, but its becoming more and more frequent. Plus she's told me how much she hates those people she hangs out with, but for some reason she acts like she deserves to suffer. I can't understand her at all. I don't know Much, all I'm sure of is that I wont be able to sleep peacefully until she's by my side," Robin sighed.

He heard Much choke on his sandwich and looked up. His friend's eyes were huge and he looked shocked. Robin immediately caught his mistake, "I meant by _our_ side, in our gang," he quickly amended laughing at Much's expression. Much calmed down and headed back out into the lounge, now laughing at himself for making such a misinterpretation, but Robin stayed in the kitchen realizing that it had not been just a slip of the tongue, but was definitely the truth. He shook his head and went back into the lounge.

He flopped back onto the couch and Djaq came to sit next to him again. "You look lovely Djaqs," he whispered to her and she smiled up at him. Something he'd always loved about his relationship with Djaq was that there was never any of that blushing or shy and awkward looks or any of that normal relationship stuff, they had just immediately been comfortable with each other.

"Yea Djaqs, lookin' hot," said Allan from the floor eyeing her suggestively, causing both Robin and Djaq to laugh. "You always look pretty Djaqs, but especially so right now," said Much with a mouth full of food making Djaq's smile wider. "Beautiful," mumbled Will, his eyes on the floor, but they shot up connecting with hers for a moment before flickering to Robin and back down. Djaq blushed, but no one noticed. They all began showing Eve with compliments as well, they'd started the tradition of always telling the girls how pretty they were when Eve and Djaq had pitched a fit about being treated as 'one of the guys' too often. They all knew that Djaq didn't really mind, but Eve was new to the group and they did it to appease her, and they'd just kept at it.

"And now that we're all done marveling at our beauty, we can go!" exclaimed Djaq grabbing Robin's hand and pulling him up. Much was driving them tonight because he had the biggest car, but even still they had to double up. "I'm not being funny, but Rob I don't think there's any room in the gang for Marian!"

"Don't worry, we'll just let her sit on your lap," called out Will from the front seat. "Now that I wouldn't mind!" Allan joked back. Robin forced a laugh.

**An Hour Later**

The floor was practically shaking from the sound of the music blaring from the speakers as Robin made his way through the crowd, or perhaps stumbled is more accurate. He's just beaten Emmet in a drinking game, which was really saying something, as Emmet was huge and could throw down; luckily Robin could hold his liquor. The people parted easily for him offering him smiles and occasionally stopping him to talk, but he was circulating, looking for someone, looking for her. He ducked outside into the backyard, which had tons of people partying in the pool since the night was warm. He laughed as they beckoned him in, but politely refused. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to see Will's serious face.

"Robin, don't you think you should go and find Djaq?" the boy asked. "No, why? Did something happen to her?" Robin replied concerned. "Well…no, but I mean you came here with her, shouldn't you be looking out for her?" Will replied shifting a little uncomfortably.

Robin help back a smile, he knew if he tried to baby-sit Djaq all night he'd have had his ass kicked by now, but Will could be so protective he didn't realize that. "I think I was boring her, she was practically running away from me, but maybe you should go and check on her for me," Robin suggested, knowing Will wouldn't be able to relax until he was sure she was okay.

"If you'd like," Will replied and quickly walked towards the house before Robin could say another word, but he just shook his head smiling at his friend, who he'd long suspected of having a thing for Djaq, but he didn't care, he knew Will was far too loyal to ever make a move on her.

Robin's eyes were still on the entrance to the house when a figure appeared in the doorway. He could only see the silhouette, but he knew it was her, the way her hips created a perfect hourglass, the way she stood straight and tall and proud, the way she just reeked confidence, and of course the tell tale drink clasped in her hand, yup he'd been searching for her all night. His eyes widened slightly when she stepped into the light. She was wearing a _very_ short black leather mini skirt and a loose flowing peasant top tucked into it. The top left her shoulders bare and the skirt revealed a lot of leg. Her ink black hair was in a low bun at the nape of her neck with a few tendrils framing her face, which was even more striking than it normally was, as her ice blue eyes appeared smoky.

Robin had barely regained use of his mind when she turned towards him and spotted him there. She began walking towards him…

**Twenty Minutes Earlier**

Marian entered the McMansion and immediately started scanning the room for Robin, she was anxious to see him, even though she knew he was probably having the time of his life with _Djaq_ she frowned as the thought occurred to her, and grabbed the drink of someone passing by, downing it fast.

She continued to scan each room she went into, but it was to no purpose, he could not be found. Marian had discovered that interesting fact about Robin almost immediately, if he did not want to be seen, it was impossible to find him. She did try to be subtle about it, but Devina had been sending her smirks every time Marian's probing eyes met hers. Marian got the familiar tingling on the back of her neck and she knew Devina, or someone else, was watching her carefully. Her eyes were now searching for her followed and not for Robin.

It was difficult to see in the house because the only light was provided by a strobe and there were so many people packed in together, but miraculously the crowds parted and Marian's ice blue eyes met a pair of stormy grey one's that were staring directly at her. She sucked in a breath surprised by the intensity of his gaze, but confused all the same. He wasn't checking her out, actually he was nearly glaring at her, but for the life of her she didn't know why. He looked vaguely familiar; perhaps she had seen him around school. He was very tall and had straight dark brown hair and was relatively skinny with a sharp face and small mustache.

The strange man's eyes flickered from her to the door that led out onto the pool before he abruptly walked away in the opposite direction. Marian wondered if maybe he was trying to tell her something? Either way she headed out the door he'd looked at, which apparently led to a pool. Marian stood in the doorway taking in the extravagant backyard that was full of drunken teenagers.

Her eyes jumped form person to person until they landed on the one she wanted to see. She felt a balloon of excitement rise up in her and clenched her hands in response, as she looked him over. He looked delicious. He had on black skinny jeans that were just loose enough, a white button down that was casually rolled up to his elbows and hinted at impressive arms, and a black pinstripe vest over it, a leather wristband, and several chunky rings. But it was the way he was standing, the way he was just being that made him truly so attractive. Sure his green eyes were captivating even from a distance, and the way his hair fell into his eyes made her hands just itch to push it back, but he stood so confident and just had an aura of friendliness and just reeked _goodness_ that made him so appealing. They say nice guys finish last, but Robin wasn't a boring nice guy, he was someone who you loved to be around because whenever he was with you, life was just better. He smiled and she began to walk closer to him, it hadn't been a conscious decision she just noticed that he was somehow getting closer before realizing why.

"Hello Marian," he said inclining his head to her taking a sip from some non-de-script red cup, "You look gorgeous," but Marian only laughed and replied, "Come on charmer, I thought you wanted me to meet your friends." Robin's eyes lit up at the suggestion, and he flipped open his phone.

"Much? Yea gather everyone up alright?" Robin paused while there was a reply, "5 minutes," and he hung up. He smiled at Marian and took hold of her elbow and began leading her through the crowd. She could feel the firmness of his grip, it wasn't hurting her at all, but it was strong enough to make her feel strangely safe. A smile graced her lips as they weaved through the crowd.

Reaching the front room of the house Robin lead her over to a group that had assembled on the couches there. "Marian, this is the gang, Gang, this is Marian," they all rolled their eyes at Robin. "That's Allan," Robin said nodding towards a fit blonde boy with bright blue eyes and boyish good looks who gave her a smirk and a wink. "That's Much," indicating towards a slightly shorter boy with light brown hair and deep brown eyes who smiled at her automatically with a friendly and open face. "There's Eve," pointing towards the pretty girl on Much's side, who had honey blonde hair and hazel eyes who smiled nervously at Marian, clearly intimidated by her. "That's Will," Robin said and Marian's eyes connected with the same grey one's from earlier, but now the almost-glare was gone and replaced with a polite cordial look, his lanky body stretched out casually, but Marian could tell he was tense, and holding back his emotion to make sure it didn't play out on his face, Marian knew because she was doing the same thing.

"And lastly, this is Djaq," Marian's eyes immediately left Will's and flew over to see Robin's girlfriend. In an instant, her heart sank, feeling like she'd actually received a physical blow to the stomach as she looked at the girl. Djaq was beautiful in every way that Marian wasn't: her skin was a glowing golden tan colour unlike Marian's porcelain skin, her hair short and in a pixie cut rather than Marian's long flowing locks, almond shaped chocolate eyes that held nothing but kindness in them unlike Marian's wide ice blue eyes that were impossible to read except for their cold hard stare, a short petit stature, no doubt the perfect size to tuck right under Robin's side unlike Marian's tall from, and an overall good nature the exact opposite of her.

She knew then that if this was the type of girl Robin liked, she had no chance. Without even needing to hear the girl speak she knew. Djaq got off the couch and hugged Marian, who noticed that Djaq smelled like spices where she smelled more floral. She ground her teeth in frustration; she hated comparing herself to people and coming up short.

They all gestured for her to sit and began talking; Marian sank down into the spot next to Will. They made eye contact again and his eyes flickered to the happy couple across from them before going back to Marian. She saw the same painful self-mocking that was in her clearly displayed in his eyes as she felt. She offered him a small sad smile, which he returned.

**Sorta a crappy chapter I know, but I thought I should put it up anyways even though I'm not fully satisfied with it. Review!!!**


	6. The Getting To Know You

5

**Author's Note: Wow the response from the last chapter was great, keep it up! **

**This is how it works**

**Update ******** Reviews ******** Update ******** Reviews!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**Not My Place**

**Chapter 6: The Getting to Know You**

Marian smiled blandly at all the people she'd just been introduced to, unsure of what to say exactly. "Right well, I've got an idea," Allan chimed smiling mischievously. Almost immediately there was a course of 5 people saying, "No Allan." Marian had to laugh at the sad puppy dog look on Allan's face as he said, "You're all no fun. Here I stole an entire bottle of vodka and none of you will even play with me," he cast a sidelong look towards Marian, "Although, I bet _you'd_ play with me." Robin tensed up knowing he'd told the gang of Marian's drinking habits and wondering if she would notice, but Marian only laughed again and said, "Why not," causing Allan to grin. He moved to sit on the floor and placed the bottle on the large circular coffee table. Marian sat down as well, and reluctantly the rest of the gang did as well.

Once they were all sitting cross-legged around the table Allan said, "So Marian, Truth or Dare?" before winking.

"No way, if she's new we should play 'I've Never' so we can get to know her," Eve interjected.

"Hey, you can learn a lot from someone by playing truth or dare," Allan defended his game.

"No, you can learn someone's cup size from playing truth or dare," Djaq said, "I agree with Eve," and the rest of the gang, Marian included, did as well.

"Why does this group have to be so damn democratic," Allan murmured, "Can't you do something Robin?"

"I was going to, but then they voted against it," Robin said grinning, "Okay so who goes first?"

"Never Have I Ever stolen anything," Eve said triumphantly, her aim was to get Allan drunk first, but everyone took a drink except for her. She pouted and pointed to Much who was next to her to go.

"Never Have I Ever," he paused, "had a dream about someone dying in the past 2 weeks," there was confusion for a moment while everyone in their tipsy state tried to work out what he had asked, but Robin was already glaring daggers at Much as he lifted the shot glass to his lips, he was surprised to see that Marian also had the tiny glass pressed up against her delicate lips. He watched as she poured the shot glass into her mouth, everything in almost slow motion as she closed her eyes, barely wincing at the burning in her throat, then her eyes snapping open and his bright green met her burning blue ones as he tossed back his shot fast. "Why are you so weird Much?" asked Djaq laughing. Much just laughed along with the rest of them, but he'd known about Robin's dreams and wanted to see if Marian was having similar troubles, apparently she was.

"Okay," Robin said, as he was on the other side of Much and they were going in a clockwise direction, "Never Have I Ever," he paused and shot an wicked grin to Marian, "Hated the Crusades," Marian laughed loudly knowing that one was for her and gingerly sipped her shot. Allan said, "What is it with the weird questions tonight? Where are the 'Never have I been high' or the 'Never have I cheated' or the ever popular 'Never have I had sex in a moving vehicle' ones?" he sounded incredibly disappointed.

"Just for you Allan, Never Have I Ever had sex in a moving vehicle," Will said, and Allan, Djaq, and Robin all took shots. Everyone broke out into laughter, some more forced than others and made Djaq and Robin blush.

"Alright, Alright," Djaq said, " Never Have I Ever committed a misdemeanor, regardless of being caught or not," unsurprisingly Allan, Will, Robin, and Much all took drinks while the girls laughed. "Oh Come on Marian, I don't believe you," Robin accused with a smile. "It's true! I would _never_ break the law," she said giggling the drinks going to her head, "Well not _technically_," she amended. Robin rolled his eyes.

"Okay my turn!" Allan said excitedly clapping his hands together, "Never Have I Ever made out with someone of my own gender, including dares!" he broke into huge laughter as Marian, Djaq, Robin, and Will all took drinks, "it was a dare!" the four of them cried out at the same time. "Marian, Djaq give us a reenactment!" he cried out, but both girls shot him dirty looks and he mumbled, "I bet you all wished we played truth or dare now," as the others laughed.

"Let's see," Marian said while running her finger over the rim of her shot glass, "Never Have I Ever," she glanced up and saw Robin and Djaq staring at each other and mouthing something, both with huge smiles on their faces, and when Robin leaned forward she knew that under the table he was probably caressing her leg or something. Her eyes went to Will who was in between them, and she didn't think she'd ever seen a more miserable looking person, except perhaps in her mirror. The moment she heard Djaq's adorable giggle at something Robin had said she knew she couldn't let this keep going on. "Never Have I Ever been more bored," she said quickly standing up and going back into the main room of the party, 4 sets of confused eyes on her, 1 pair of understanding ones, and 1 pair of hurt ones, they were bright green.

***

Marian shoved her way past people, all of whom were fawning over her cute outfit or how adorable her hair was or how glad they were she'd come to the school, no doubt trying to earn popularity points by being seen with the new girl who had been automatically accepted by the popular group. She managed to get herself a drink and far away from Robin and his friends; she hated to admit it, but the few moments spent with them had been both the most fun and the most excruciating since she'd arrived. On the one hand they were all funny and clever and amusing, and most importantly real friends who looked out for one another, but on the other hand Robin was there, and so was Djaq, and seeing them together with their perfect couple-ness was more than she could take, and she wasn't so masochistic as to make herself go through that.

She stared out through the crowd of people all grinding together on the dance floor and felt the presence of someone behind her. Marian turned around and saw the bright blue eyes and floppy black hair and strong jaw of Guy. "Marian," he inclined his head towards her and she replied, "Hello Guy," with a small smile. Marian knew she liked Robin, but that whole situation with him was so confusing that she like being around Guy because she knew exactly where she stood and it was easy. "Enjoying yourself?" he asked, she noted that he tended to be a man of few words when he was around her, but she heard he actually had quite a tempter. "Much more now that you're here," she replied, she could always claim that it had been the alcohol talking, but truthfully she wanted to exert some control over her love life, and Guy was the perfect way to do that.

"Wanna dance?" she offered. His well shaped lips turned up into a smile, for the first time that Marian had seen anyway, but she figured that was because he liked to play the brooding bad boy character, he certainly had the looks to pull it off: hot body, black clothes, sexy scowl, and penetrating baby blues. He was one of the most sought after guys in the school, but Marian had been told that it was actually Robin who had more admirerers than he, and it caused Guy to hold a bit of a grudge against him.

"Of course," and he led Marian out to the dance floor. Although she hadn't expected it, Guy was actually quite a good dancer. He slowly spun Marian around so that her back was to his chest and they danced, dipping and swaying and his hands moved from her waist up her side and back down. She pressed harder against him and moved side to side teasing him. She could have sworn that she heard him groan, but that wasn't possible, was it?

She grinned and grinded harder, now she heard the groan for sure. He realized what she was doing and smiled thinking that two can play that game. He bent his head to the crook of her neck and lightly brushed behind her ear with his lips and then followed that trail to her neck, she tilted her head to give him a better angle, but he simply let out a breath that traveled over her skin and neck and down her shirt a ways giving her goose bumps.

She tilted her head back to his neck, where she knew he could see a tantalizing view down her shirt, without actually revealing anything, she backed her head up to his shoulder and breathed against his neck, she felt him shudder from pleasure. She grinned against his one side of his neck, while she moved her hand to the other side. He looked down at her and moved his face to look at hers. Their eyes locked and they realized how close they were. His lips were moving towards hers and she closed her eyes when she felt the soft touch of his lips on hers, she didn't close her eyes to savor the feeling, but more so she could image someone else.

His lips moved softly against hers and his hands went to her waist, turning her around to face him. She reached one hand up and put it at the nape of his neck, her fingers threading through his hair and her other on his shoulder for balance, while he had one hand on the small of her back pressing her closer to him and the other on her shoulder blade. As the music turned into a electronic song with a raging beat and violent lyrics, so did their kiss change. It went from soft to fast and hard and sloppy, but Marian didn't mind.

They continued to make out on the dance floor for a while before they were interrupted by a scream, "COPS" everyone raced to get out the front door, but Marian ran against the crowd and into the backyard, searching for a back exit. She couldn't find one, so with one glance over her shoulder to see the hordes of people all scrambling to find their belongings and clothes before sprinting from the pool, and hiding all the drugs and alcohol, she started to climb the wooden fence.

Her heart was beating so fast and her vision blurred as she got her footing and attempted to hoist herself over. Normally this would be a simple act for her, but due to the distractions all around her and her less than sober state she couldn't get the balance. Her foot slipped and she fell off the fence.

Her gaze flew back to the house, she could see that there were several police officers entering the door, and now there was no one left in the backyard, probably in the entire house, which would leave Marian the only witness. She cursed her stupidity not to just follow the crowd, but noooo she had to be all clever and think of a back exit.

With a renewed determination she launched herself at the fence, no longer trying to skillfully climb it, but now just getting over it in any way. Her fingers caught the top and now she was hanging. Slowly she pulled herself up until she was straddling the gate, and then she looked down. It was a few feet higher up than the other side, but she could still jump and not get injured, but if she landed wrong it would definitely hurt. She could see the light from the police's flashlights shining on the backyard; it would only be a moment or two until they were searching it. So she jumped and took off running.

**Review!**


	7. The All About You

12

**Author's Note: Anyway this chapter deals with Marian's individual relations with the different members of the gang. I want to be as true to the series here, or how I interpret the series. I've always thought that Marian and Will would have a close relationship since they are the same age and grew up in basically the same small town, but I'm not quite sure how to factor in Marian being of a higher rank than the rest of the gang, so I just sort of went for it! Enjoy. **

**This is how it works**

**Update ******** Reviews ******** Update ******** Reviews!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**Not My Place**

**Chapter 7 – The All About You **

Marian kicked the covers off her overheated body, but gave up halfway through the endeavor. She was so exhausted, and every part of her body hurt, even her toenails. She didn't want to open her eyes, but the inside of her mouth felt as if it had been sanded down then had cotton balls stuck onto it and she needed water, even if it meant opening her eyes.

Slowly, very slowly she sat up, hoping to avoid any nausea from fast movements, which surprisingly worked, but the pounding headache was enough of a reminder of the times she promised herself she would most certainly never drink again. Look how well that worked out. She grabbed the water by her bed and took a long drink. Immediately she lay back down, too tired to do anything else, but soon enough the pain in her head was enough to motivate her to find some painkillers.

She slowly ambled into her bathroom and got them from the medicine cabinet, and after swallowing them she glanced in the mirror. She wasn't particularly shocked at what she saw, but it wasn't really a pleasant sight either way. Her hair was fluffy and messed up, her eye make-up was smudged into oblivion giving her the appearance of someone who'd received one hell of a thrashing, at some point she'd apparently undressed and was now standing in one ankle boot, her leather mini, and a black tank top, her skin was pasty and gaunt, overall she looked a mess. Quickly she turned on the shower and jumped in, letting the hot beads of water fall over her skin, wiping away the dirt and make-up and carrying away the smell of alcohol and pot. She didn't really do much besides stand there leaning against the tiled wall to keep upright for about a half an hour, but when she saw her pruney hands she finally reached for the shampoo.

She got out of the shower an hour later feeling a thousand times better especially since the medicine had kicked in, even though with her red pruney skin she looked a bit worse. She pulled on jean shorts and a loose rose-colored vee neck that was so thin it was nearly see through, but it was big and soft, so she wore it. She headed down to the kitchen to get something to eat surprised to find that the house was deserted. Usually there was a maid or two or at least someone, not that Marian minded being alone, but it was rather surreal.

She helped herself to breakfast in the stainless steal collection room they called a kitchen and sat down. She was eating when she started to wonder why her feet hurt so badly, and all in an instant the night came back to her.

She remembered scaling the wall to escape the cops, then running as far away from the house as possible, only to stop when she realized she had no idea to get to her house, or where she currently was not to mention no means of getting home in the event she did remember home was. The memory of stopping to take off her shoes came to mind, and she remembered a car pulled up.

**Last Night**

At first she was cautious, but then she saw it was Will who was inside. "Need a ride?" he asked, and she eagerly climbed in the car.

By now she had sobered up enough to remember her address and thanked will for finding her. "We always drive by after a party gets busted to see if there's anyone in trouble," he explained.

"That's really kind of you," Marian said surprised. "It was Robin's idea," Will shrugged, "We usually go back to his place after a party, I know he was worried when you ran off, would you like to stop by?" he asked softly.

Marian felt a slow spreading of guilt into her stomach, "Will she be there?" Will nodded, "I think it's probably best if I go home," she said quietly. "I understand," Will replied. There was a moment of silence as Will's car whipped down the hill and onto the freeway, which was full of cars even that late at night. "How can you stand to be around them?" Marian cried out frustrated, shocking poor Will who swerved the car at her sudden outburst, "I mean I barely know him, but I already feel like seeing them together makes me want to rip off her head and then that makes me want to retch because a – I hate blood and b – I feel guilty as hell because she's his girlfriend and she _should_ be together with him, and _I'm _just being selfish! It must be a thousand times worse for you, having to see them go at it all the time!"

"They don't," Will answered in a quiet, yet firm voice, but when he saw her confused look he added, "They don't go at it all the time, I don't think either of them are into public displays of affection," Marian looked slightly confused at that, "Hmm, I took Robin for the jealous sort, and that generally entails an idiotic masculine 'marking my territory' mentality, no offense of course." Will gave a small laugh and replied, "They must save it for when they're alone." Marian blanched at the thought, "I think that might be worse."

Will looked over at her concerned and said, "It's difficult at first because you want them even though you don't deserve them, and they already have each other, but over time you realize that they still care about you, just not in the way you'd like."

"So it gets easier?" Marian asked hopefully, but when she saw the dark look cross over Will Scarlets silver eyes she knew it didn't, but she knew he was a kind enough guy to lie to her, "Yes, a lot easier," he said, his hands gripping the steering wheel just that much harder, she could tell he was past the point of no return.

They drove for a while in silence, which seemed normal with Will being naturally calmer and quieter and Marian lost in thought. When they reached her house she said, "Thank you Will, for everything," and she turned to leave, but once again the boy surprised her and called her back, "Marian," and she turned around walking back towards the car and sticking her head in the window, "I know you may not want to join the gang, and I understand, but I just want you to know that if you ever need help with anything I'm here."

Marian smiled at him, her second genuine smile of the night and said, "Thank you Will, and the same to you, if you need to get away from it all, you know where I live," and she walked back into the house mentally declaring that the night hadn't been a total disaster since she seemed to have made a new friend.

**Present**

Marian finished eating breakfast and headed back up to her room. She sat at her computer ready to waste away several hours of her life when her blackberry buzzed next to her alerting her of a new text. She debated not opening it, in case it was Devina or Guy, but eventually decided against it and clicked it.

**U Busy? **

**R.**

Marian texted back right away,

**That depends…**

**Wut'd u hav in mind?**

**M.**

She then continued to stare at her phone until it buzzed again,

**Txting u was as far as I got**

**R.**

She laughed and txted,

**But ur famous 4 ur 'plans'**

**M.**

It was actually true, she'd noticed that Robin came up with, sometimes unnecessarily complicated, plans whenever anyone asked him for help.

**Ha. Ha. **

**Park by ur house in 10?**

**I promise I wont bring the gang**

**R.**

Marian sighed and texted him back,

**Kay c u ther.**

**xoxo M.**

Marian pulled on a pair of vans and decided to walk, knowing it would take at least ten minutes, but it upped the chances of Robin offering her a ride home. She exited her house to be greeted by another sunny day in Los Angeles. She sighed and began her walk making sure to walk on the perfectly manicured grass instead of the pavement so that the grass would remember what its like to be real grass.

She got to the park before Robin and headed towards the swings, she was surprised, but there were barely any kids there, only a few and they were all clambering over the playground. She began to swing lazily, giving long pushes with her legs to get more air. It felt so refreshing to have the air whipping in her face and sending her hair flying back. She two big hands on her back giving her a push and she swung higher than even before. She laughed loudly and he said, "Higher?"

"Of course!" Marian said immediately making him laugh, but he pushed her higher nevertheless. They kept at it for a while, Marian having the time of her life and Robin loving that she could be so amused by something so childish as swinging, but it was as if they were making up for times when they could've played together as children. Finally Marian leaped from the swing and landed in the sand solidly before toppling over causing Robin to laugh again, but she joined in as well.

After he caught his breath he went over to sit next to her in the sand and said, "You know there have probably been hundreds of kids who have either peed or thrown up in this sand," Marian scrunched her nose at the thought, "You are just _so_ charming Robin, how _does_ Djaq manage to keep her hands off you?" she asked sarcastically.

"It might seem like an impossible feat, but she has learned to resist the urge to jump me most of the time, at least in public," Robin replied with a lazy grin.

"She seems like the type of girl that would kick your ass for saying that," Marian replied throwing some sand on his shoe, "Not that I really know her…"

"And whose fault is that Marian?" Robin replied, his voice sounding almost defeated, "I've tried to get you to meet them so many times, and then when you finally do, you insult them and run off. That's not the you I know,"

"I guess it just goes to show that you don't know me as well as you think," Marian replied smartly. But Robin just leaned back on his hands and surveyed her, his gaze making her feel very uncomfortable and said, "Fine, then why don't you tell me about yourself," Marian sighed and said, "Maybe I don't want you to know me," and Robin asked, "Why?" sounding genuinely bewildered, but instead of answering Marian took the lesser of two evils and began to tell him about herself. She started out with basic facts (my favorite color is blue, I love to ride horses, I used to live in Seattle) but Robin's gentle and probing questions caused her to open up without even realizing it and pretty soon she was venting to him about all her mom's boyfriends and the most current one, which had led to move (she left out Sarah's story) and her always absentee dad. She could see the disbelieving glint in Robin's eye as she told him she preferred her parents to be gone most of the time, he seemed particularly confused with her relationship with her father.

"We get along really well," she defended. "And you don't mind at all that he just leaves you for weeks at a time?" Robin asked critically. "Not at all, I'd hate it if he hovered or monitored all my behavior and was super protective of me, I can't stand that!" Marian replied. "So you don't mind that he never goes to your sports games or school functions or takes an interest in your life?" Robin countered. "No not at all, because he takes an interest in my ideas. He'll ask me for advice when he's working on a project and genuinely thinks I have good input, and we have the most entertaining debates about stuff, I much prefer it to living with my mom who just assumed I had the maturity of a 4 year old," Marian replied.

"Lucky you," Robin said, his head dropping ever so slightly, and with that they started talking about Robin's life. Unlike her, he'd started out with the big stuff first telling her how his mom died in childbirth with him and his dad worked for the army. He and his dad had a strained relationship apparently; his father raised him with strict rules and high expectations and Marian could see clearly that he was making his son pay for his wife's death, trying to make him a worthy exchange for the life of his mother, something Robin couldn't see.

Robin kept talking about how he wanted to be nothing like his father, how he would never marry gold digger after gold digger, but behind that Marian could see a childlike need to be loved, which would've been endearing had she not taken on this dislike for Robin's dad, who set his son up with these high expectations. It was a wonder Robin turned out as kind and generous as he did, Marian assumed that was a trait from his mother.

**Monday**

Marian made her way out of the house, hoping to see Robin's car parked in front, but instead she saw a red Ferrari parked in her drive. She frowned wondering who it could possibly belong to. "Oi! I aint got all day, hurry that fine ass up Maz," a mocking tone called out from the drivers side and Marian felt her self smiling at the sound of Allan's voice.

She slid into the car, the buttery leather interior making that an easy move, and said, "A bit ostentatious isn't it?" with disapproval fighting amusement in her voice, but the blonde haired boy just grinned a toothy grin and said, "It drives the girls wild," with a wink. "That was truly the worst pun I've ever heard, please never speak again," Marian said as they took off down her street at a speed that was surely illegal.

"So, when did I sign up for this carpool?" Marian asked clipping her seatbelt.

"Well see, I wanted to talk to you," Allan paused giving her a sidelong glance, "About Will." Marian's frowned confused and asked, "Why did something happen to him?"

"Umm no, well see you may have noticed his not so secret love for a certain friend's girlfriend of ours," he said and Marian nodded in understanding, "And I mean, we're best mates, and he's a really a good guy. People always call him shy and quiet, but he isn't! Or at least, he wasn't _this_ quiet before he fell in love with her. It's tearing him up inside, and I've tried everything to help him, but I dunno, he seems just sort of content to suffer."

Marian nodded in understanding and a slight wonderment at the boy who could never take anything seriously persona dropping off Allan and revealing a nervous but concerned and loyal friend. "I even tried to get us to switch groups a while ago, but that set him off pretty badly," Marian tried to imagine the kind Will angry, but it wasn't computing in her head, Allan must've seen her face because he said, "Yea it was a shock to me as well. Anyways after last night he came back to Robin's better than I've seen him in a while, but he wouldn't tell us what happened. Later he told me that he gave you a lift home, but he wouldn't say anything else, so I thought I'd ask… did anything happen between you last night?"

Marian sighed inwardly, the hope in Allan's voice was obvious, but she was going to disappoint him, "No Allan, I'm sorry, but nothing happened."

He was visibly saddened, but perked up slightly when he said, "Would you mind letting something happen?" Marian laughed and gave him a kiss on the cheek for being adorable. They spent the rest of the car ride there bantering about which girl from Marian's group she would agree to set Allan up with. They got to school in record time, probably due to Allan's reckless driving and pulled into the lot leaving skid marks on the pavement from Allan's sudden turn and attracting a lot of, unwanted on Marian's part, attention, but Allan just swung an arm around Marian's shoulder and slipped on his ray bands and sauntered forward.

**Sometime Later That Day…**

Marian was getting books out of her locker when she felt the familiar tingling on the back of her neck, signally her that someone was watching her. She turned around and saw Guy leaning against the opposite row of lockers. "Hello Guy," she said pleasantly.

"I saw you this morning with that miscreant A' Dale," Guy said cutting straight to the point, "I thought you would've had the guts to tell me about it first."

"Guy, what happened at the party was a one time thing," Marian explained, "I was drunk, and it's not like I regret it, but I really am not looking for a boyfriend right now, and nothing was happening with Allan he was only giving me a ride to school that's just how he is."

"I don't like him," said Guy, but Marian just rolled her eyes and said, "Well I do, so it's lucky then that I'm the one hanging out with him isn't it?" Guy ignored her and said, "He's got a girlfriend you know, some girl named Kate from some all girls school, Devina says they've been on and off for like ever."

"Guy I told you, I don't care. I just don't want anything serious right now, maybe if things were different, but it wouldn't be fair of me to lead you on, so I'm telling you know what happened at the party was great, but a one time thing," Marian said trying to be as polite about it as she could.

"Fine," Guy grunted, and Marian said, "Don't be like that, its not as if you don't have tons of girls throwing themselves at you, I heard Annie likes you," Marian winked, but Guy just scoffed and said, "Been there, done that," Marian's smile became a bit more forced as she suggested, "What about your sister's friend, what was her name? Meg?"

"Look Marian I don't need your help finding a date!" Guy said angrily and stormed off, but Marian just let him go wondering why he was so bloody moody all the time. Contemplating this she pushed open the door to the girls' washroom and froze in place as she heard a loud whimpering followed by a sea of hiccups and some sobbing. Marian tried to back out slowly, but she glanced in the mirror and saw it was Robin's friend Eve who crying and couldn't just let the poor girl cry all alone in the lavatories, it was too sad.

"Eve?" Marian asked hesitantly locking the door behind her, "What's wrong babe?" purposefully using endearments because they tended to create the illusion of a friendship that just doesn't exist. Eve let out a string of half sobs and half words and Marian surmised that she was crying over Much. Marian wrapped her arms around Eve and let her cry it out all while muttering about how fantastic she is and how lucky Much would be to have her, and about how fantastic Much is and how he'd never hurt her intentionally, trying to cover all the bases because she didn't really know what the problem was. It must've worked because slowly the crying stopped and Eve raised her head and gave Marian a teary smile.

"Thank you," she whispered, "Djaq's not really good with the girl-talk thing, probably thinks its demeaning or something, but anyway she's not the greatest shoulder to cry on, but we love her anyway," Marian smiled falsely and helped Eve clean herself up, even lending her cover up and new mascara out of some vague feeling of competition with Djaq, who people apparently loved even though she was worthless, Marian thought bitterly that maybe if she could steal Eve's love away from Djaq she could prove she was better than the girl at something! But Eve was such a sweetheart that she had love for both and quickly Marian grew annoyed with the simpering girl and was making up an excuse to leave when her phone rang.

"Claw-Raw!" Marian exclaimed after leaving Eve, "I'm so pleased you called!"

"Whatever Marian, your father's having another party tonight, an appearance by you is necessary; forty minute minimum and that's only if you dance with one of the old geezers your dear old dad is making this deal with," Marian rolled her eyes but agreed and headed to class.

She had history next and was excited to get her term paper on the Crusades back, she'd spent hours working on it and considered it some of her best work, which is why when her teacher handed them back she was surprised to see a **46%** at the top of her paper. Marian's eyes bugged, she had never gotten anything less than a 90 in her entire life.

She was too stunned to even move, and was the last one out of the class. Embarrassment cut through her as she felt her eyes tickling with tears, but she managed to keep them from falling. She'd just left the room when she heard a sweet voice from behind her ask, "Marian? What's wrong?" Marian turned around to see Djaq leaning against the opposite wall.

Too shocked to even care she handed Djaq the paper, the small girl's eyebrows raised in surprised before she grabbed Marian's elbow and informed her, "We're going to lunch,"

**Ketchup**

Djaq was reading over Marian's paper as she surveyed the restaurant Djaq had taken her too, it was very trendy and apparently impossible tog et a reservation at for dinner, but it was practically deserted at lunchtime.

"I might not be the best judge of this since I suppose I would've been on the other side, but it most certainly does not deserve an F," Djaq stated indignantly as Marian groaned, "I mean its just ridiculous," and Marian groaned again desperately trying to keep herself form liking the girl across from her who was glaring at the F on her paper as if trying to will it into an A.

Marian gave a shaky laugh and said, "I somehow don't think giving it the death stare will be much help, thank you though," Djaq laughed quietly and said, "You haven't seen the awe inspiring powers of my death stare then."

"It must get a lot of use with you being in a group that's primarily boys," Marian said. Djaq shook her head and replied, "Not as much as you'd think, they're all really sweet guys, even Allan has his moments, but you'd already know that wouldn't you."

"Excuse me?" Marian asked confused. "I saw you this morning with Allan," Djaq said, her voice adopting a slightly accusatory tone. "Oh he was just talking to me about Will that's all," Marian replied. Djaq nodded and paused before asking, "There's not…anything like going on….between you and Will…is there?" Marian looked at the now very tense Djaq over her menu and raised an eyebrow saying, "That seems to be a very popular question."

"No, its just that Will tends to be shy around most girls, so when you two were sharing all those secret glances last night and then you stormed off I just figured that maybe you two had something going on," Djaq explained speaking very fast and fidgeting around.

"Nope," Marian replied, "Just friends," and started buttering a piece of bread, missing the way Djaq visibly relaxed at the news. They continued on with their lunch realizing that they had very much in common, whether she liked it or not Marian had a great respect for Djaq by the end of the hour, even liked her, or would have if the situation were different.

**Marian's House**

**That Night**

Marian sighed as she surveyed the room, her house had been swarming with caterers and decorators since early that afternoon, and truly they had transformed her house. It was decked out and filled with people drunk on expensive champagne in expensive designer suits and with expensive plastic girlfriends on their arms. Marian had been introduced to half of them already, and promptly forgot them the moment the polite chitchat had ended. She was wearing a floor length satin silver dress that draped her body prettily.

She tried as best she could to blend into the background as she made her way over to the bar, and she was nearly there when she heard a vaguely familiar voice say, "Marian?"

She spun around and saw Much dressed in a white shirt and dress pants, his floppy hair combed back in an obvious, but unsuccessful attempt to tame it, carrying an empty tray in one hand and a fistful of napkins in the other. "Much?" she asked surprised.

"Yea," he glanced at the ground, his ears tinged pink slightly, but Marian just rushed forward and enveloped him in a hug whispering, "Please tell my you know where they're keeping the real food," he grinned and said, "Follow me."

So Marian did. Truthfully she wasn't that hungry, but Much had looked uncomfortable and it was the quickest way she could think of to put him at ease with the situation. He led her into her kitchen, which was for the first time she'd ever seen it, full of all kinds of delicious looking food, suddenly her stomach growled and she realized she was slightly more hungry than she'd thought. "Much you're my hero," the boy smiled sheepishly.

**20 Minutes Later**

Marian was sitting on top of the counter with her feet swinging off the ends listening to Much explain about his current life problems while Marian offered advice in between bites of different hors d'oeuvres that she was sneaking off the trays before they left the kitchen.

"Much she's clearly into you, but she's too scared to make the first move," Marian said as she eyed a stuffed grape leave. "I don't know Marian, it seems to come so effortlessly to Allan and Robin, I just can't get up the nerve," he complained as he artfully arranged the crab cakes.

Marian laughed and said, "The reason Allan gets so many dates is that he asks out so many girls, less than half of them say yes, but because he asks so many that's a pretty big number," Much replied, "And Robin? He doesn't ask out anybody and still every girl he meets falls in love with him, but I guess that's just Robin."

"Robin's a great guy, but you are too Much, maybe even more so because you're not as annoying as he is. You really need to get some more confidence, that's all that's holding you back. Go and call Eve right now, I'll finish up in here," he gave her a skeptical glance; "Go!" she insisted.

"Okay fine, but your supposed to arrange them, not eat them," Much said washing his hands. "Ha. Ha. Very funny, go ask your girlfriend out before I call her myself," and with that Much scuttled out the door. Marian proceeded to eat all the crab cakes and pretend that she'd sent the plate out when he came back in, but he didn't even suspect anything because he was onto a new batch or worries about the date he'd secured for the next night. They spent the rest of the evening together in the kitchen planning the date.

That night Marian lay in bed trying to go to sleep, and found herself thinking all about Robin's gang that she'd met today, and how or some strange reason she was now all entangled up in their lives. She grinned at the thought figuring Robin might've staged all this, but realized it didn't really matter. She liked them, and was tired of trying to stay away from Robin; she'd just have to be strong and resist him even if he didn't know he was tempting her.

The thought occurred to her that maybe she should give Will a try…

**Review!!!**


	8. The Jealous Boyfriend Act

11

**Author's Note: **So this is actually one of my favorite chapters, I hope I do the idea justice, but I just love the image of a jealous Robin, I can't help it! Disclaimer: there is some cursing in this chapter, I know the stories rated T but he's angry and that's how people express anger, so deal with it, I doubt it will offend you.

**Not My Place**

**Chapter 8: The Jealous Boyfriend Act**

Marian walked out to the driveway knowing there would be _somebody_'s car there. Since she'd bonded with the gang she'd finally given in and left her old group and fully committed herself to where she had always sort of known she'd belonged: with Robin and his friends, even if she wasn't really _with_ Robin. And apparently the gang was hyper active about making sure the girls were well taken care of: anytime she needed a ride it went without saying they would give her one, anytime she had a problem with a teacher it was taken care of (her F from several weeks ago had miraculously been turned into a B), all the people who had known her as the bitch from her time in Devina's gang were re-evaluating their opinion of her since everyone loved Robin's gang. All in all she happier than she'd been in a while; Will had been right, it didn't get easier, but in some ways it was worth it. She was eternally thankful that Robin and Djaq weren't all couple-y all the time.

This particular morning it was Will's car in the drive.

"Hey Will," Marian said with a smile as she slid into the passenger seat. "Hey Marian," Will replied with a smile of his own, the smile he used only with her. They'd grown even closer over the past months especially after a particular incident a few weeks ago. Marian smiled at the memory…

**A Few Weeks Ago**

The entire gang was hanging out at Robin's house on a Friday night, there was another party, but they had unanimously agreed to skip in favor of an all night scary movie marathon. It was nearing 2 a.m. and they were right in the middle of 28 Days Later, and Marian's eyes were glued to the screen, not because she was watching the movie, but because Djaq was curled up into Robin's side and they were whispering to each other and smiling.

Marian was barely holding it together, knowing they were there just out of eyesight was killing her, but it was better than actually looking at them. In the beginning seeing them in these rare moments had been like igniting all her internal organs on fire and she could barely restrain herself, so she kept quiet knowing if she were to say something it would reveal how she felt, which gave insight into Will's quiet nature, but now the sight no longer made her angry, it made her feel helpless, like she sigh and feel as if her chest was going to sink right into her back and her muscles were too weak to clench into fists.

She saw Will stand up and mumble something about getting food and make a hasty exit into the kitchen, Marian decided to follow. She softly closed the door behind her and saw Will with his hands braced on the countertop and his head hanging defeatedly. She felt a surge of sympathy for the tall boy.

"Will," she whispered quietly, she didn't even know if she was capable of making a louder sound. His head shot up, but he relaxed when he saw it was her. She walked over to him and put her hand lightly on his shoulder and he offered her a small smile. She wanted to ask him if he was okay, just out of reflex, but she knew he wasn't so she kept quiet.

As if hearing her un-asked question he said, "I'm fine, really, you don't have to stay here with me." Marian gave a dry laugh and replied, "I left for the same reason you did Will," and he nodded understandingly his eyes now filled with sympathy for her as well as himself. Marian looked up into the Will's strange grey eyes and his roamed his attractive face and remembered the idea that had been circling in her head for the past couple of weeks, "Will," he nodded, "Have you… do you want to maybe…try something between us?" Will raised an eyebrow, and she continued, "I mean everyone thinks there's something going on already, and I was just thinking it might take our minds off our mutually miserable situation."

"I'm sorry Marian, but I can't," he said removing her hand from his shoulder gently, "Your beautiful and smart and funny, and you deserve someone who likes you as much as you deserve, but I could never be that guy because there's no going back or distracting myself, I'm hers, even if she doesn't want me, I'm hers." Marian eyes filled with tears as she stared at Will's sad face as he stated the simple truth about his life. As the tears fell down her face she knew she wasn't crying because he rejected her. No, when he frowned and wiped them off her pale cheeks she knew she was crying because he was such a good person, and he didn't deserve to be so sad. It was so tragic that he was going to be loyal to someone because that's what you do when you're in love, even though Djaq didn't return his feelings.

"I'm so sorry Marian," he said again visibly distressed that he'd made her cry. "No, Will it's okay, you're right; a cripple can't help another cripple walk. I just wish it had happened to a different person because you deserve to be happy," Marian smiled up at him. He was touched by her words and even though he knew her tears were shed out of pity they were also for herself, "I am happy," he said, but when he saw her disbelieving face he said, "Honestly, I've got amazing friends, family, and anyways there's something to be said for unrequited love, its not that bad."

Marian gave a small laugh and hugged Will, "You definitely belong in the Middle Ages where Courtly Love was better than sex," **( A.N. for those of you who don't know Courtly Love is basically when men pine after women, but they never actually get together) **Will laughed as well and asked, "So we're okay?" She nodded and said, "Better than okay," with a real smile and they headed back into the other room.

**Present**

"Marian!" Will said loudly and she shook her head to clear it, "You totally blanked out there," he said worriedly. "Sorry, just distracted this morning, what were you saying?" she asked.

"I'm going with my dad to his conference he's speaking at in Miami," Will said also in a cheery mood. "That'll be fun!" Marian replied, knowing how well he and his dad got along, "Is Luke going to?" Will nodded, "Yea, my mom's family lives in Georgia so we're going to stop by and visit while dad's at the conference."

"Your mom was from Georgia?" Marian asked surprised. "Yea," Will said nodding, "Raised Luke and me to be right Southern Gentlemen," he joked. Marian laughed and said, "Do the accent!" Will rolled his eyes and firmly said, "No." The rest of the car ride was spent in a similar argument, neither relenting their positions.

They pulled up to the school parking lot and Will said, "So I won't be at the party on Saturday, so make sure not to get too drunk because I wont be there to pick you up off the streets," he said. Marian scoffed, "Some gentleman you are, I was not 'picked up off the streets' you make me sound like a prostitute or dog at the pound or something," Will laughed and assured her she was nothing of the sort.

He walked her to her locker, and just as she was opening it she heard Robin's voice say, "Will I need to speak to Marian alone," Will tossed Marian a surprised look, Robin didn't really order people around a lot, "_Now,"_ and Will looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "You don't have to do what he says Will," Marian replied as Will made a movement to walk off, she sometimes wondered if she was the only person that told Robin he couldn't control everyone. "But this time you do," Robin said angrily. Will gave Marian a bewildered look, but left the pair.

Marian sighed and closed her locker to look at Robin, who she could feel glaring at her. "What?" she asked taking in Robin's frown and the way his bright green eyes were practically burning her with their intensity.

"Is it true?" he demanded, his usually humor filled voice commanding and loud, "Tell me it's not true, tell me you're really not _that_ idiotic!" he said without letting her a chance to reply.

"Well I've always thought it was true, but there are some that can make a pretty damn good argument that it was al just filmed in some basement and that no one's ever been to the moon, but personally I'd say its true," she replied seriously.

"Marian now is not the time joke! Be serious, and answer me!" Robin said angrily running his hands through his hair, his eyebrows drawn together and his jaw clenching in an effort to control his anger.

"I would if I knew what you were asking!" Marian said, raising her voice to match his and getting slightly angry herself, she did not like being yelled at without knowing the cause.

"You know very well what I'm talking about Marian," Robin's anger only seemed to be growing, "Now tell me: is it true?"

"I would gladly tell you, if I knew what on earth you were talking about!" Marian said throwing her hands up in frustration, but much to her surprise Robin hands clasped around her wrists and backed her up until her back was pressed into the cold lockers and he was standing a hairs space away from her, he bent his head slightly so they were eye to eye and Marian's heart race increased. She could feel his breath on her cheek and smell the minty-ness of it, she could feel the heat that was radiating off his body, even his face that was slightly flushed at the cheeks most likely due to his anger, but she couldn't stop staring into his eyes. Right now the eyes she'd grown to adore were penetrating her very being, they were angry and pleading all at once and she was captivated with the intensity of his stare and the amazing color of his eyes: the bright green with flecks of both gold and black that seemed to dance like a fire.

"Did you sleep with Gisborne?" he said slowly, his voice deepening like it did when he was serious and his grip on her wrists tightening somewhat. "No." she bit back angrily. Robin was visibly relieved and deflated slightly, his grip loosening until she said, "But I almost did."

"WHAT?" Robin said, his head snapping back up to hers as he released her wrists like they burned him. "Why the hell would you _do_ that? How could you?!?!"

"It was at that party back in October, I was drunk, he was there, we were friends. It's not like meant anything," Marian defended herself, trying to seem nonchalant about it.

"How could it 'not mean anything' it was fucking Gisborne!" Robin cried out.

"He's not that bad Robin, he some good qualities," Marian said turning back to her locker, now uncomfortable with the conversation.

"Not that bad?" Robin asked incredulously, "If he's 'not that bad' then why was he bragging to the _entire_ guy's locker room that he was the first to 'tap that new hottie Marian' does that sound like someone with good qualities? No. It sounds like a first rate asshole," Robin ranted standing by her side, with her face turned in looking at her locker and him standing so his chest to her side she could feel his breath on her cheek still.

Marian was trying to keep her anger in check, but she did not like getting yelled at, "And how is any of this my fault? Tell me Robin how is it _my _fault he said that? How did _I _make Guy an assshole?" She paused, but before Robin could say anything she answered, "Oh that's right, I didn't! So if you've got a problem take it up with fucking Guy!"

"You could've of not hooked up with him! How could you do that if you know what kind of person he is? Are you _that_ desperate?" Robin yelled and Marian glared at him and turned around so she back against the lockers once more and he raised his hands so they were on either side of her pressing against the lockers, "How could you do it?"

Marian stared right at him for a moment, hating that he was yelling at her, but hating more that his voice and eyes portrayed a deep betrayal and disappointment in her. She pushed away from him and began to walk off, but he grabbed her elbow and spun her around to face him again, so closely that they pressed right up against one another. "Fuck you Robin! It's none of your damn business, so stop the jealous boyfriend routine! I don't have to justify anything to you, so fuck off." And she stormed away before Robin could react; only then noticing that the hallway was completely deserted and class had started before their fight even began, so luckily no one had witnessed that.

Just as she threw open the door to the girls bathroom she heard a loud clang, like the sound of a fist meeting the metal of the lockers. She locked the door and screamed in frustration, her heart beating wildly, and caught sight of herself in the mirror: her cheeks were a bright pink and while her hair looked fine it was framing her wild eyes. She took a couple deep breaths to calm herself down and splashed water on her face to get rid of the heat.

She stared at her reflection, droplets of water falling from her face and her breathing hard and labored, she and Robin tended to fight quite often, but never as seriously as this. For a moment she was caught up again getting angry at his arrogance to assume that just because he hated Gisborne she had to as well. But then the thought occurred to her that Robin wasn't like that, so what would cause this reaction? She hadn't seriously thought he was jealous, but it fit. It fit perfectly.

A smile came to her face and she almost felt like crying with relief, he did care about her. She started to laugh feeling so happy she almost thought she might float away. She felt a buzzing in her back pocket and took out her phone.

**Y rn't u in class?**

**Hope everything is ok**

**Call me if u need anything**

**xoxo – Djaq**

The laughter stopped and she crashed back down to reality.

**RPOV**

Robin stood there leaning against the lockers breathing hard and holding his hand watching as blood trickled down his fingers and to his wrist. He sighed. It stung like hell, but he couldn't go to the bathroom and wash it off because Marian had walked that way, plus in a small way he felt he deserved the pain. _Stop the jealous boyfriend routine_ echoed through his head, if only she knew how spot on she was being.

It had taken all his willpower, and Much and Allan restraining him, not to pummel Gisborne to the ground when the idiot had to blatantly baited him with the information. The only thing that had really kept him from destroying him was the hope that Marian would contradict it, which she had in a way. He supposed hooking up with Gisborne was better than sleeping with him, but it wasn't much of a comfort, not that he should care either way, which sent another wave of guilt through him, which was soon overshadowed by a wave of lust as he remembered the image of Marian pressed tightly up against him, her cheeks flushed, her beautiful clear blue eyes dancing with anger, her perfect lips pursed and about to yell at him.

He groaned again, everything about her drove him crazy, he even thought she was gorgeous when she was angry with him! And if he was honest with himself, he had picked a few fights just to see her like that. He never picked fights with Djaq…his girlfriend…another larger wave of guilt hit him. Now he was certain he deserved the pain in his hand.

He didn't know what to do anymore, he couldn't keep forgetting Djaq, but he most certainly couldn't let Marian and _Guy_ (he'd internally cringed when he saw her perfect lips say his name) get any closer. So he did what he always did when he didn't know what to do: he called Much.

***

Robin was sitting on the branch of one of the taller trees in the forest and he could see Much approaching slowly. Once much was directly under him he tossed an acorn at him, it hit him square on top of the head. Robin chuckled. "You know that hasn't been funny since we were 5!" Much complained up the tree, but nevertheless began to climb it and settled on a branch opposite Robin.

"So what happened?" Much asked understandingly and listened while Robin explained the earlier altercation to him. Much was the only one out of the group that Robin had told of his feeling for Marian to, it would've been odd for him to not since he considered Much more of an extension of himself rather than a friend.

"Robin, I've been telling you since the beginning, you have to end things with Djaq. It's not fair to her," Much said shaking his head. "What's more unfair to her is dumping her! I refuse to like my father and toss aside someone who's been wonderful and loyal to me just because a newer hotter model came long. I cant do that to her," Robin replied earning another sigh from Much.

"Is that really what you're doing though?" asked Much, "I mean I've seen you with Marian, she's not just a 'newer hotter model' to you."

"It's the same principal," Robin stated. "Djaq's been good to me and I owe it to her to return that and be good to her. I won't be like him Much, I promised myself that a long time ago." Much sighed cursing Robin's father not for the first time.

"Robin, what you're doing is worse, and you can't even see it. To keep stringing her along when you feel something so much stronger for someone else is cruel," Much said trying to reason with his best friend, who he knew had his heart in the right place.

Robin sighed and looked at his friend and asked, "I can't tell if I want to end our relationship because I want Marian or because Djaq and I just aren't meant to be. My emotional involvement is making it hard to be objective: I don't know if dumping her is the right thing to do or what I want to do."

"It doesn't matter Robin," Much said knowing his friend always wanted his actions to be motivated by a good reason, "The whole situation is out of hand: Marian thinks she's not good enough for you, you think she's too good for you, but Djaq's also too good for you since you want Marian, but are determined to do right by her, Djaq thinks she's not good enough for you because she likes Will, and Will thinks he's not good enough for Djaq because he thinks your better than him and he also thinks he's not god enough to be your friend since he's in love with your girl."

Robin had to laugh at his friend's jumbled assessment of the situation, "So what do you think I should do Much?"

"End things with Djaq, but gently because you two have been together for a while, then apologize to Marian and then you can start to go after her," Much relied. Robin nodded and thanked his friend, and they both returned to the school's grounds.

Robin walked into his chemistry class a few minutes later, "Mr. Locksley," the uptight teacher said sternly, "Care to explain why you are a half hour late to class?"

"Not particularly Ms. McLain, but I promise I will make it up to you later," he said with a grin and a wink knowing the teacher had a bit of a crush on him, and sure enough she flushed and muttered something about not letting it happen again, but he saw he cross off the tardy he was supposed to have.

He glanced around the room and headed to his, which was at the lab table next to Marian, who was staring right at him trying to anticipate his next move. Luckily they were at the back of the classroom so they could talk freely.

"I don't want to fight," he said holding his hands up in surrender as he sat down. "Good idea unless you have a death wish," Marian said, "Are you going to apologize?"

Robin looked at her and said, "No," Marian rolled her eyes, her walls back up, "But I am going to tell you that everything I said was out of concern. Gisborne is not a good person and I don't want to see you get hurt, but you're right I was being unfair and I shouldn't have yelled at you, but I'm not sorry because I meant what I said even though I could've said it nicer. I know it wasn't right of me to start criticizing you when it wasn't my business, but I was just trying to protect you even though I'm sure you don't need it."

Marian gave a small smile and said, "How come every time we fight we never apologize? It's always some sort of peace treaty," and Robin laughed quietly. His face turned serious and he said, "Listen, I really want to talk with you about something, can you come over to my place after school?"

"Sure," Marian replied, "Can I get a ride with you, Will drove me to school today, so I don't have a car."

"Actually I have something I have to take care of right after school, but just have Will drop you off on his way to the airport around 4," Robin said his mind clearly wandering as he thought something over. "Kay, I'll be there at 4," Marian said fully aware that he was no longer paying attention to her. She'd known him long enough to recognize when he disappeared into his own head to work something out, so she just let him be.

**After School**

Robin was waiting by Djaq's locker thinking back to how many times he'd waited at her locker during their almost 10 month relationship, and he realized that in the past 2 months he's barely been there at all. He glanced at his now cleaned up hand; he should've done this sooner.

"Robin! Hey! I'll only be a minute, just let me grab my stuff and we can go," Djaq said as she started to do the combination on her locker. Mentally Robin was just debating whether to end it now and suffer the awkward car ride, or end it in the car, or once they reached her house.

"Robin? What's wrong?" she asked. Now or never he though, "Djaq, we really need to talk." She nodded.

"I'm so sorry, but –"

"You're breaking up with me," Djaq said guessing what he was going to say. Robin nodded slowly as he met her steady gaze, but he was unsurprised to find her warm brown eyes as warm as ever.

"I know I haven't been the best boyfriend lately, I'm sure you could tell this was coming, in fact I'm sure you were going to dump me soon enough, but I'm so sorry Djaq, you have to know that I'm so so sorry," he said, but Djaq just smiled and reached up and put gently grasped his face with her hands and leaned up and lightly pressed her lips to his. The familiar feeling and smell and presence of Djaq made him rethink what he was doing for a moment.

Djaq left her hands to frame his face, but disconnected their lips, "We've been together a long time Robin," he nodded, "And I love you," to which Robin replied, "And you know I love you Djaq," she smiled.

"I think we confused the love we have for each other, for a different kind of love," Djaq said wisely.

"Maybe we lasted as long as we did because of the friendship that was underneath it all," Robin replied.

"We were the safe decision for each other, we loved each other like friends, so we were never in any danger of getting hurt," she said, "But I think it's time we put ourselves out there, and whether we get hurt or not we will just have to live with that."

Robin smiled as she dropped her hands from his face, "We will always be friends Djaq."

"Always," she replied.

He gave her a lift home and Djaq opened up to him about having secretly loved Will for so long, but thinking he was indifferent to her so she agreed to date Robin. Robin tried to tell her that Will still liked her, but she though she's missed her chance. Robin in turn told her all about the whirlwind of things he'd been through since Marian's arrival and she just laughed at how ironic it was that they had both felt so unnecessarily guilty for the past 3 months. And it finally felt right, to both be so open with each other, no pretense of liking each other, just friendship. They were friends, as they should be.

**Review!!!**


	9. The Confrontation

8

**Author's Note: **I haven't updated in sooo long, sorry!! We are closing in on the end, only 3 more chapters after this, so stay with me!! To clear up the timeline, Marian arrived in October and has been a little over 3 months, so it is now the end of January. It pains me to write this chapter because it's so unnecessary and makes me want to slap my own characters, but I wanted to slap them in the tv show too, so I suppose I'm being true to the characters. Anyway…

**Not My Place**

**Chapter 9: The Confrontation**

SPLATTTT

Marian looked at her windshield, her mouth hanging open in shock. She was driving to Robin's house, or mansion, when it had begun. After months of no rain, the first drop had appeared. She didn't know why she was so surprised; it had been cloudy for days, but the sudden appearance of water falling from the sky was stunning. A loud honk from behind her broke her out of her reverie and she stepped on the gas. Despite what the boys thought, she actually could drive, and wanted an easy getaway if whatever it was Robin wanted to talk about was going to require an escape car.

She sighed and turned up the music, thinking about it was only going to syke her out, but she couldn't stop her overactive imagination from working. Whatever he had to say to her, she knew it wasn't going to end well. She pulled into his drive and parked, heading up to the house. She pressed the intercom, "Umm Hello?"

"Yes?" came a stuffy sounding voice.

"I'm Marian Fitzwalter, here to see Robin?" Marian replied feeling a little stupid talking to white box.

"Ahh yes, Master Robin mentioned he had a guest coming over," suddenly the stuffy voice was warmer, "I shall buzz you right in. He's in the East Wing." and the door buzzed, her signal to push it open. Marian had been there many times over the past months and made her way through his gigantic house towards the East Wing, rolling her eyes all along the way that his house was even divided up into Wings.

After climbing the final staircase she was in the East Wing and in Robin's lounge, where she assumed he would be. She reached the large room, but it was empty. The thought occurred to her to just call out for Robin, but a sudden urge to sneak up on him shot through her. Now accompanied by the grin on her face she started searching, which proved to be a much harder task than originally anticipated. She had been to his house before, but that was only with the rest of the gang and they had basically confined themselves to the lounge.

The staircase that led to the East Wing dropped you off directly in the lounge, but the rest of the wing was one giant hallway with many rooms on each side. Marian gingerly began creaking open doors to see if he was inside, but so far no luck. She tried every door and finally reached the last one. She gently pushed the door open and was relieved to finally see Robin, his back was to her and he was staring outside. His room was bright white and 2 of the three walls were glass looking out at the forest that surrounded his estate **(A.N. Imagine Edward Cullen's room from the movie Twilight, crappy movie, but he had a cool room). **The room was sparsely decorated with only a few pictures of the gang, but one wall was completely filled up with rows of music and books. She was surprised at how small the room was when obviously he could've chosen a larger one, but Robin was odd that way. The rain was pelting his windows creating a melody that went unobstructed by any other sound. The view was amazing: a wall of lush green.

"I like your room," Marian stated closing the door behind her. Much to her disappointment Robin did not react surprised at all, she could see in the reflection of the glass he was grinning, "I was wondering if you were ever going to find me. Did you actually open every single door?"

"I was trying to surprise you," Marian replied smartly. "Next time you might want to try walking a little more quietly, and not sighing in frustration so often," he replied.

"I'll keep that in mind," she smiled and walked over to stand next to him. They stood side by side staring at the window, alternating between watching the rain and making eye contact through their reflections. An undetermined amount of time passed, and it occurred to Marian that this was the longest amount of time they'd been silent together.

Usually there was bantering or fighting, or in Marian's case, an urgent need to say something before the moment became a _moment_, but this was just a simple appreciation of each other, no words needing to be said, just enjoying one another's company. The rain continued to sound against the window, but this time it was not alone, now she could hear the even deep breaths from Robin, and her own slightly shallower breath, as well as her heart pounding in her ears as the silence stretched out.

Marian was gazing at the trees contemplating that if the house was surrounded by forest that meant Robin had grown up playing in the forest, most likely alone. At that moment she felt a jolt of electricity as Robin's hand brushed hers, his touch was gentle and she figured it had been an accident, but then he took her hand completely in his own and held it.

Marian didn't know what to do, so for a moment they just stood their; side by side holding hands staring at each other's reflections. Although Robin's room was cool, Marian felt her entire body heating up, and the mood in the room shifted. His warm fingers laced loosely together with hers, which were trembling.

She felt something building in the air, she knew the peaceful innocent moment they were sharing right now was going to end soon, and she held tighter to the only thing that was holding her down, Robin's warm secure grip on her hand. She felt as if she were enveloped into one of the stormy clouds above their heads, and in the mist she could no longer separate herself from him. She vaguely registered that her mind felt blank, that all that mattered in the world was in that room. Her thoughts were quiet, no internal monologue running, no complicated web of guilt and yearning. She only heard the drops of the rain onto the glass.

_Drip...Drop...Drip...Drop…Drip…Drop…Drip…Drop...Drip...Drop…Drip...Drop…Drip…Drop…Drip…Rob…Bin…Rob…Bin…Rob…Bin…Rob…Bin…Rob…Bin…_

What she had taken for silence before she now realized was just the opposite. The air was thick with all the things they had left unsaid to each other. Every moment where she had tried to cover up the building tension between them with meaningless chatter was coming to the surface and was swirling around them. She could barely breathe with all the repressed emotion in the room. Something bigger than she could comprehend was happening to her and she didn't know what to do.

"Marian," his voice cut through to her. She didn't want to look over at him and end the moment of pure innocent perfection, but he called out to her again, "Marian," he stepped in front of her, right into her view. She smiled slightly at the familiar sight of him that never failed to give her chills: the way his head tilted down so he could look her in the eye, the way his brown hair fell into his eyes making her fingers itch to brush it from his forehead, the way his brilliant green eyes were looking right through her as if, as fake as it sounds, he was the only one who could actually _see_ her, the way his lips always had that half smile whenever he was with her, the way everything about him was open and honest and sharing whatever it is that he was, all of it, with her, without question or reservation. Everything he was he was giving to her, with just one look.

Without breaking eye contact with her he brought his free hand to her face, his thumb brushing her cheek and some of her dark curls beneath his fingers. "This is right Marian, you _know_ that it is," he said in a hushed tone, they didn't need to speak loudly as they were mere inches from each other.

"Do not assume to tell me how I feel Robin," Marian replied, in the habit of denying him and herself.

Robin was shaking his head, "I ending things with Djaq."

Marian felt as if a cold bucket of water had been thrown on her. It was the best and worst news she'd ever received. The best because she could finally be with Robin like she'd wanted from the first moment they'd touched, and the worst because she was responsible for breaking them up, stealing another's girls "one" again. She'd grown to love Djaq, just like she'd loved Sarah, and she'd promised herself things would be different. Djaq deserved someone as good as Robin, she did not.

Robin saw her shaking her head and his grip on her hand intensified, as if he was trying to hold on to her. "No Robin, why would you do that!" Marian whispered miserably.

"Because of _you_ Marian, because of _us_," Robin was imploring her with his eyes to be happy, but she couldn't, those were the exact words she was dreading to hear. Djaq was probably in pain because of _her_.

"No Robin there is no us. There never could be, you're meant to be with someone like Djaq and I'm meant to be with someone like Guy," she said, but apparently that was the wrong thing to bring up at the moment. Robin's eyes flickered at the mention of Guy's name, and he said, "You're meant to be with me Marian," but Marian was shaking her head her eyes begging him to stop. "Listen," he said quietly, and he released their clasped hands and his moved to the back of her neck, pulling her closer to him.

His fingers threaded through her black curls and his other arm wound itself around her waist pulling her body flush against his, so that everywhere from their foreheads to their toes touched.

She could feel his breath pillow over her lips and could hear when he breathed deeply and whispered, "_Listen,"_ then it was like the world went into slow motion. Robin's lips slowly came to meet hers, giving her ample time to back away, but she was frozen on the spot. She wanted it so badly, but her morals were gripping her just as tightly.

All that was for naught though the moment his lips touched hers. It was so soft it was barely a kiss, but it was as if her lips suddenly had thousands of more nerve endings and felt his light kiss more intensely than she'd thought possible.

Robin pulled her into him, making their lips press harder together. For Marian, kissing Robin was like diving into a pool. The change from being on your own on land to the immediate relief of the cool water, enveloping you completing to the point where everything else fades away. Her other senses dulled and her instincts took over. She reached her hands up and one went to the back of his neck and toyed with the hair at his collar and the other was on his chest, feeling the hard muscle underneath.

Robin must have taken her responsive attitude as a sign and turned them around Marian's back was pressed against the glass wall. She shivered at the cool from the glass on one side and the heat of Robin on the other. It was too much and not enough all at the same time.

The kiss was still gentle, the delicious pressure of his lips capturing her bottom lip sending jolts of electricity through her. He broke the kiss after a moment, but he still held her in his arms, and bent so their foreheads were touching and he was staring directly into her eyes.

"Marian," he said in barely more than a whisper, "These past months have been killing me. I felt it the first time we ever met, we are _supposed_ to be together, but I didn't want to hurt Djaq, so I stayed with her. I thought eventually it would go away, but it won't Marian I realize that now."

Marian could barely focus on the words he was saying; the intense look in his eyes was burning her from the inside out. He was so close to her, and not just physically, but in every conceivable way.

"I should have owned up to it in the beginning, but I didn't and that's my fault. I'll take responsibility for that," Robin said, his eyebrows frowning as he took the blame onto himself.

"No," Marian said, hating how weak her voice sounded. She took a moment gathering whatever she had in her and continued, "No Robin."

"No what?" Robin asked confused.

"No I won't be your girlfriend, your lover, your friend, your anything," Marian said tears coming to her eyes. Robin said nothing, but looked incredibly confused, so she continued, "You're too good for me Robin, no listen, you just admitted how much pain you've been in the past few months because of _me_ Robin. This whole thing is my fault, I practically seduced you and here you are apologizing to me and taking the blame."

She disentangled herself from him and continued, "From the first time we met I've been thinking, dreaming, about you leaving Djaq for me. Can you imagine that Robin? I've been hoping to ruin another person's life, my friend's life, just so I could get what I want. I'm not a good person Robin. Being around you made me try to be better, but who am I kidding, that's not me, it never will be. However cliché it is, you deserve better."

"Marian how are you even saying this? You've got it all wrong!" Robin protested, gently grabbing her elbow as she made her way to the door, trying to stop her. But Marian wouldn't stop. She opened the door to his room and was about to walk out, but turned around to say one last thing.

"Robin no. Let me do this one good thing. You will get back together with Djaq and I promise I will leave you alone, for good this time."

"No!" Robin said nearly frantic, he could practically feel her slipping through his fingers, "How can you even be saying these things about yourself? You have it all wrong, just let me explain. Marian I can't be with Djaq; I can't be with anyone but you. And besides Djaq doesn't even want me anyways. So stop being insane, if anyone's too good for the other than you're too good for me!"

"Robin," she silenced him, a tear falling down her face, "Just let me have this."

And she left.

**~ 2 Hours Later ~ **

Robin was sitting on his bed, his head in his hands still trying to make sense of what Marian had said. How could she think she wasn't good enough for him? The idea made no sense.

He _knew_ her, probably better than she did herself. He saw how she protected the people she was loyal too, he knew how angry and helpless she felt when she thought about al the injustice in the world, but she was still determined to help somehow. She might have a mean exterior, but inside she was so strong and brave and beautiful.

He'd thought that she returned his feelings, but she certainly had not been seducing him. In fact if he'd heard her correctly she'd been trying to do the honorable thing this entire year, all the while he was pressuring her to be in the gang and spend time with him and flaunting his relationship with Djaq, and through it all she'd denied herself. Hell she'd even made friends with Djaq, which must have been difficult for her.

Now that they were over he could clearly see that all this could've been avoided if he and Djaq had just ended things sooner. He groaned, but his father's serious voice sounded in his head _self pity is a wasted emotion son, only for weaker people. Don't fester in the misery of your situation, just get off your ass and fix your situation_. Robin stood up and grabbed his jacket; truer words were never spoken.

**Review!!!**


	10. The Huzzah

11

**Author's Note: **Sorry it's been a while! This chapter gets a little racy, it's a T rating and this is pretty much how teens are, so I feel its okay, if you don't go read a different story cause I like it and I'm sure you will too. So we've almost reached the end, almost so for those of you who worry if I will finish the story be assured that it is going to get completed! Now read on!

**Not My Place**

**Chapter 10: The Huzzah**

**RPOV**

For all his resolve to go and fix things with Marian, he had no idea how. After driving around for a few hours he ended up as he always did when he had a problem, pulling into Much's drive. He parked and hopped out of his car. He didn't walk towards the door, but instead to the large oak that was in the front lawn. Not wanting to have to deal with Much's mother and many brothers he usually just climbed the tree, which conveniently led straight to a window into his friends room.

Grabbing onto the nearest branch he took the familiar path up the tree, one he's been climbing since he was little. Much's window was open, as it always was and Robin could hear parts of a conversation, or rather his friend's laughter.

"No, no of course Eve, I'll definitely be there," Much said eagerly, this was followed by more laughter, which made Robin pause at his perch underneath the window. Perhaps he should just go and let his friend enjoy talking with Eve. "Yea I got to go now though, I'm gunna stop by Robin's really quick to see how things went," or maybe not.

Robin pulled himself up and through the window, "No need," he said with a smile watching as his surprised friend tumbled off his bed stuttering in shock. "Robin!!" Much's attempt at anger failing as Robin knew the pink tinge on his cheeks was really from embarrassment. Robin laughed and picked up the discarded cell phone, sure enough Eve was still on the line.

"Sorry, but I've got to steal your boyfriend away from you for a moment," Robin said cheerfully.

"Oh Hi Robin! Oh no really, Much isn't…we're not… ummm…bye." Before the dial tone rang in his ears. "Thanks for that Robin, you probably scared her away," Much said standing up and brushing invisible dirt off his trousers. "You mean you haven't asked her out yet?" Robin said surprised. "Well, I mean we've gone on dates, but we haven't clarified if we're actually _dating_." Robin raised his eyes skeptically causing Much to squirm. "Why are you even here?" he asked finally.

Robin sighed and sat down on the floor, "I told Marian everything, and she said she didn't want anything more to do with me." Much's eyes widened to almost comical proportions. "What!?!?" he asked surprised. Robin nodded glumly, "She blames herself for breaking me and Djaq up, and wants me to get back together with her. She got this twisted self image where she thinks I'm too good for her."

The boys sat there in silence for a moment. "I need a plan," Robin said suddenly looking up, "Something to win her back, or win her in the first place," he corrected. But Much was already shaking his head, "No Robin." The green eyed boy frowned and asked, "Why the hell not?" Much sighed and said, "Look, I know I don't know a lot about women, but I _do_ know you and Marian. You probably dumped a lot of information on her today and her initial reaction might not have been what you wanted, but I think you should give it time to settle. Let her think things through."

"I can't just sit here and wait for her to realize that I'm right! I need her Much, and I'm not going to get her by sitting here and twiddling my thumbs!" Robin said. Much laughed and said, "Well you already scared her off, so you don't really have a choice, you've got to give her time because she won't give you any," Much sighed, "Come to the party tonight, it'll take your mind off things. Then tomorrow after she's had time to think go explain things better." Robin relented and agreed, he wasn't in much of a partying mood, but he figured getting pissed drunk might help 'take his mind off things'.

**The Party**

**5 Hours Later**

**MPOV**

It was just past midnight and the party had been raging on for hours. Marian wasn't sure why she'd come, alone too, but at her home she couldn't sit still and kept overanalyzing everything that had happened with Robin. It was definitely the party of the year, the McMansion packed to the brim with her fellow classmates and then some, most if not all intoxicated by some form of illegal substance; all grinding together and acting like primitive tribal people during a mating ritual, she thought with disgust. But then she took a moment and saw how easy it was for them, no complicated webs of guilt and desire, just simple urges they acted on. And suddenly she found herself wishing it were that easy for her.

_It could be…_ her treacherous mind told her. She glanced around and saw Guy making his way over to her. He was truly very attractive, but she found herself comparing him to Robin, and he would always come up short.

"Marian," Guy said nodding to her while taking a sip of his beer.

"Hello Guy," Marian said mentally prepping herself, "I'm so sorry about the way things turned out with us. It seems we always find ourselves thrown together at parties," she gestured around, flirting lightly.

"I knew you'd come back to me," Guy said haughtily, the self-satisfied expression on his face made bile rise to the back of Marian's throat, but instead she just forced a laugh and said, "Well you're a hard one to resist."

"Want to go find somewhere quieter?" Guy offered stepping closer to her, so that their chests were touching, she was backed up against the wall and couldn't help but feel slightly like his cornered prey. "I'm fine here," Marian managed to get out, luckily her voice was steady. "Kay," was all Guy said before greedily attacking her mouth with his.

Last time they'd been in this position Marian had actually been enjoying herself, drunk, but enjoying herself. This time every cell in her body was screaming WRONG at her, but she was intent on ignoring them. She could taste the bitter beer he'd been drinking on his mouth and it made her stomach squirm, his hands seemed overly warm and sticky as groped her in places she probably shouldn't have let him, but damn it she was proving a point, or at least she thought she was, really she was just focusing on not retching. His lips were too big, and his kisses too wet.

Guy didn't seem to notice her lack of enthusiasm and continued snogging her up against the wall, but Marian had now moved past the grossed out stage and was just getting bored of it. Her eyes fluttered open and she saw Robin, her heart rate sped up and her grip on Guy's hair involuntarily tightened, causing him to groan. Her eyes followed Robin as he stumbled, smiling and laughing, with several, also drunk, members of the soccer team, Allan, and a worried/agitated looking Much who kept tossing looks of apology over to where Eve was standing.

Marian watched as the group refilled their drinks and chugged them down, much of their precious alcohol spilling onto their clothes and the ground. Robin finished first, and yelled out, "Another!" this proclamation was greeted by cheers from all the other boys. He stumbled forward, not moving with his usual grace although traces of it were still there even through the clumsy movements.

"Okay you lot! This is it! I'm here on a date with Eve, who is pissed at me enough already, and _not_ to baby-sit you! You're on your own!" Much declared angrily glaring at the boys who now had their arms draped across the others shoulders all leaning on each other to stay vertical, but the line of tall boys was swaying dangerously.

"My Good Man!" cried out Allan, "You have done your duty!" in a faux medieval knight voice before breaking into laughter.

Robin stumbled forward and rested a hand on Much's shoulder, "My Good Man!" he said in the same tone of voice, "We are forever in your debt!" before stumbling back to the bottle of vodka the guys were passing around and chugging a few sips. Marian took the time to observe him: he was wearing just a black v-neck tee shirt and jeans, but they were so wrinkled they looked like he'd had them balled up in a pocket for days.

"We shall repay you with our ever lasting loyalty and provide you with saucy wenches for every day of the week!" cried out a blonde haired soccer player. The rest of the boys all laughed and cried out together, "HUZZAH"

"Will you all just shut the fuck up?" Much snapped, "it's annoying."

"As you wish my lord!" said Allan.

"Raise a glass and huzzah!" said Robin.

"HUZZAH" they all chorused.

"That's it, I'm gone find your own ride home," Much said oddly composed and left to go back over to Eve, who looked at him with a kind smile. "Huzzah!" they all yelled in unison again, which caused Much to flip them the bird and then call out, "Don't do anything stupid!"

"Thank you kind sir, for those noble words of wisdom!" called back Robin, who then promptly fell to the floor breaking into laughter. Marian smiled through her worry at the spectacle they all had made. She moved to walk over to him and bumped straight into Guy, having forgotten he was there. She quickly shoved him off muttering something about seeing someone and headed over to Robin.

She rushed over to him and came to a stop right in front of where he was collapsed on the floor. Robin didn't look up, but only kept his eyes on her legs, "My Lady! I seem to have forgotten how to stand up, would thoust aid me in my trials?" Marian laughed and pulled him to his feet. He stumbled and she had to shoulder most of his weight to keep him upright, he was surprisingly heavy.

The mob of people surrounding him earlier had disappeared and asked, "Robin?" he didn't reply, "Robin!" he finally looked at her, then his eyes widened as if he only just realized who it was he was leaning against. "Marian!" he said a huge smile breaking across his face. He planted a kiss on the top of her hair. "Robin, who drove you here tonight?" he didn't seem to understand the question but eventually she ascertained that Much had 'cruelly abducted him against his will' and had 'outlawed' him from returning to his house. Marian knew Robin would be in huge trouble if she took him back to his place, and Much was unwilling to house his drunk friend apparently, which left only one option: her house. She sighed.

**Marian's House**

**10 Minutes Later**

Sometime during the car ride over, Robin had stopped speaking in the archaic accent and was back to his normal voice. Marian was silently thanking god for the small favors in life. She'd hefted him up the stairs and into her room; she didn't quite know what to do with him. Edward was away on a business trip, so she didn't have to worry about getting caught, but she was unsure of what the etiquette was in this particular situation.

Luckily Robin was too far gone to know what was going on. He flopped onto her big fluffy bed and pulled her with him, so she was sitting awkwardly on the side of the bed while he was spread eagle in the middle. "You're stupid you know." He said smiling up at her. Marian let out a small laugh, "Oh really? How's that?"

"You fink you're too good for me, but really…" he paused looking a bit queasy before continuing, "You're like one of those chocolates that's got a really good creamy nougaty center, but me… I look yummy on the outside, but once you get to the middle its awful, like there's a bug in it or something." Marian laughed out loud at this, "You're a bug filled chocolate?"

Robin furrowed his brows becoming more serious than he'd been all night, "If you knew the things I've done," and then his expression cleared. "Marian! I've got to tell you all the things I've done!" he jumped up on the bed like a 5 year old on Christmas morning, so he was on his knees and his hands were cupping her face, "Because _then_ you'll realize how you're too good for me!" clearly very pleased with himself he knelt down so they were eye level.

Marian raised an eyebrow, she knew whatever he said couldn't possibly be that bad, but he had her intrigued now, "Oh really Robin? What terrible things have you done?"

He frowned again, clearly trying to recall them, "In the past month I've beaten up 5 people, one so badly that they had to take him to the hospital," Marian's eyes widened, "I couldn't help it! I just saw them all doing such mean, mean things, and I just snapped and went and beat the shit out of them. Especially the one that was blackmailing Luke to all his coursework, I broke his jaw. I knew even when I was doing it that it was bad, but I did it anyway." He paused for a moment, his eyes locked on something that Marian couldn't see, but then he shook his head and turned to her triumphantly, "See! I'm a bastard!"

"Robin," Marian sighed, "You hurt them because they deserved it. It wasn't some cruel impulse in you that made you do it; it was your sense of justice. Beating up people who deserve it is…" Marian paused, she didn't want to say right because she knew it wasn't, but it was what she probably would've done, so she rephrased, "Beating up people to protect other people doesn't make you a bastard."

"Oh no Marian," Robins said slurring drunkenly now back to laying on the bed, "You didn't hear them screaming, I can always hear them screaming when I try to sleep." Marian slowly laid down next to him, Robin on his back and Marian on her side, she raised her hand and brushed his hair out of his eyes. "You feel bad about it," it wasn't a question, "If you were a bastard you wouldn't feel bad about it," _if I were you I wouldn't feel bad about it_ Marian told herself.

"I slept with Djaq," he said suddenly breaking the silence. Marian immediately tensed up and felt a pain shoot through her heart. "She was your girlfriend, of course you did," Marian said, the whole gang knew that Robin and Djaq slept together, but to hear him talk about it was a whole knew level of torture for her.

Robin let out what was almost a bitter laugh as he stared up at her ceiling, "Oh yea, I'm her boyfriend I'm expected to sleep with her, but I bet she didn't expect me to be thinking about you each and every time since I met you." Marian froze again, heat flooding to her face, unable to even absorb this information. "Which probably wouldn't have happened if it weren't for me," Marian muttered.

This time there was no mistaking the bitterness in Robin's laugh, "Yea definitely _your_ fault I'm so bloody attracted to you. _Your_ fault that I think about you every two minutes. _Your_ fault that I compare every other female in existence to you and they all suck in comparison. _Your_ fault that when Djaq is fucking on top me all I want to do is shove her off cause she's not you."

Marian's quiet voice replied, "It is," softly a moment after he made his speech. Robin flipped his head to look at her and said, "Your fucking mental woman," his green eyes nearly scaring her with their intensity.

"And my parents," Robin said, his gaze back on the ceiling. "What?" Marian asked confused at the subject change. "My parents," Robin repeated, "They're such good people, and all I ever do is piss them off. I mean they've given me everything and all they want in return is a good smart son, and I can't even give them that. I'm such a disappointment to them," he stated blandly, no emotion coloring his tone, just acceptance.

"Robin you don't know that," Marian said shocked at how he could even think that.

"Sure I do," he replied casually, "my dad tells me, all the time. Just this morning he told me that mom is probably rolling over in her grave at the way I turned out." Although nothing in his manner gave away that this fact bothered him in any way Marian knew that it had too. How could it not? "Robin," she said, but he refused to look at her, "Robin."

She sighed and moved so that she was straddling his hips as he laid on her bed, this got his attention. "Robin your dads an asshole. He hates himself and he's taking it out on you, its obvious to everyone. Your mother would be _so proud_ if she could see what an amazing person you are. Let me tell you, every time I hear someone talking about whatever kind and wonderful thing you did for them, my heart swells a little and I'm so proud that I know you. Hell I've even become a marginally better person just by hanging around you."

Marian's ice blue eyes were on sparkling as she finished her speech, her eyes boring into him trying to make him see the truth with her eyes. Robin's handsome face was serious as he stared at her. Her eyes roamed his familiar face, his strong jaw, messy hair, but there were subtle differences this time, his lips were not grinning, if anything they were frowning, his usually bright green eyes now were so dilated they looked black, and his cheeks were tinged with pink.

Marian felt the atmosphere in the room change, and an expectant silence fell over them. Her breathing hitched as she realized just what position she was in. Green met Blue again and Marian willed herself not to break the connection. Her blood began to pump faster and she noted that his breathing increased as well.

Marian saw his arm come up and felt one of his hands rest on her hip and the other slide up to her back, then slowly he raised himself and switched their positions, so that Marian now had her back on he bed and he was hovering over her. She was struck at just how _big_ he was, his broad shoulders obstructing her from seeing anything else, but him, his long legs that went on far past her own. He leaned in closer, his eyes out of focus, and it was like a veil separated them from everything else, and it all just fell away.

Then his lips were on hers in a harsh demanding kiss, one that had been repressed too long to be contained now. He bit at her lower lip and she groaned slightly, which only encouraged him to deepen the kiss.

Marian's head was spinning, the moment was so perfect and yet there were so many things wrong with it. The foremost being that she could taste the alcohol on his breath, but she ignored it. His hands ran down her spine making her shiver and arch up into him, and he ground his hips into hers pushing her back into the mattress.

"Robin," Marian moaned as his lips left hers and started to make a hot trail down her neck, "Robin slow down." He mumbled something in reply, but didn't stop his attentions to Marian. His hands began to unbutton her top, "Robin! Stop," Marian said pushing his hands away not wanting a drunken hook up to be the reason they got together. A strange feeling settled into the bottom of her stomach, and she began to notice his clumsy movements and the telltale signs of just how drunk he was.

"Robin No." she said with more conviction, pushing his hands away from her top, but Robin just shoved her hands away and returned his hands to cup her through her shirt. Her head flew back and she heard Robin's slurred voice in her ear, "You don't want me to," in an almost sing songy tone.

"Yes, I do Robin," she said, not even convincing herself, but Robin cut her off by slamming his lips back onto hers. She squirmed under him, he had stopped resting on his elbows and now that his weight was fully on her it was almost crushing her. Her mind was reeling and she felt like she was being torn in so many different directions.

Part of her just wanted to stop analyzing and go with the moment, which she'd waited for so long, but the Robin who was on top of her right now wasn't the Robin she knew, it was some heavily wasted version. It felt right and wrong at the same time.

"Get off me Robin," she said pushing at his shoulders, but again he didn't move, he just replied, "I've waited so long for this."

"No Robin," and she pushed harder, making him roll over to the other side of the bed, so they were lying side by side. Marian took a moment to catch her breath and she heard Robin's sigh of disappointment.

A wave of relief passed over Marian as she propped herself on her elbows and looked over at Robin. He was fast asleep, or possibly passed out his limbs were twisted in every which way, his face was adorably relaxed and his hair was falling into his eyes giving him a boyish look, so innocent and unlike the drunken horny Robin from 5 minutes earlier.

Marian just smiled and shook her head thinking that with some things all boys were truly the same. As that thought floated around in her head Marian frowned, she'd refused Robin because she considered him too good for her, too perfect, but his little show earlier had pretty much cleared her of that idealistic image. Marian's smile grew, if she wasn't good enough for him, but it turns out he's not that good, wouldn't that mean they were perfect for each other? She nearly laughed from a combination of happiness and amusement at her circular logic, and brushed the hair off Robin's face.

She lay down next to him and scooted over so she could rest her head on his chest; as soon as she did his arm came around and pulled her closer to him in his sleep. Marian wondered if that smile was going to be permanently etched on her face as she drifted off…

**Review!**

**Only 2 chapters to go**


	11. The Hangover

13

**Author's Note: **So I finally got up the nerve to watch season 3 (I wasn't planning on it since I figured that without Marian it would be crap) and I think it was as good as it could possibly have been given that they killed off Marian, in case you cant tell the fact that they killed off Marian really annoyed me, but hey they made up for it in that last scene of the finale. Anyway that particular scene inspired this chapter sorta. Only one chapter left. Enjoy!

**Not My Place**

**Chapter 11: The Hangover**

Marian slowly opened her eyes, and the happy smile on her lips grew wider as she slowly woke up.

Her cheek was resting on his chest and she could hear the beats of his heart and she'd never felt more at home. Their legs were hopelessly entangled, but his arms held her against him in his sleep as she lifted her head up to drink in the sight before her: a sleeping Robin.

She stifled a laugh as she thought about the horrible hangover he was going to have when he woke up, well he did deserve it after his grope session last night, not that she'd really minded. She looked up at him again, studying his face. It was devoid of its usual cocky grin, his lips were slightly parted breathing, she could see scruff on his chin that he usual shaved, and noted for the first time that his nose was slightly crooked, maybe he'd broken it? She didn't know, but she loved it, all of it because it made Robin everyone's hero into her Robin who was just as flawed and human as she was, not some untouchable legend.

Slowly Marian slipped out of bed and threw on Robin's tee shirt; she hated the feeling of waking up in the clothes you'd slept in last night, and headed downstairs. No one was in sight as she practically skipped into the kitchen, a beatific smile on her face clad in only a mans vee neck tee shirt that hung to her thighs and messy curls running rampid on top of her head.

She hummed as she made Elva's special secret hangover cure for Robin feeling particularly generous, it had taken months, but she'd finally convinced the staunchy maid that she was worthy of the recipe. While the disgusting concoction was blending Marian crept into her dad's office bathroom, where she knew he kept the painkillers and grabbed a few for Robin, and for herself. After dry swallowing it she returned to find the cure perfectly pureed and poured it in a glass and hummed her way back up the stairs.

She re-entered her room and made her way back to her bed, sitting Indian style on her bed. She watched as Robin's arm stretched out as if reaching for her, if she'd still been sleeping he would have reached her. After pulling at air for a few moments his arm dropped and he slowly opened his eyes.

Groaning Robin lifted his head, his brows furrowing together as he took in the situation in his foggy state, he raised himself on up on his elbows to look at her. The sheet fell down to his hips giving Marian an unobstructed view of his sculpted chest in full light.

"You should wear less clothes more often Robin," Marian said through her smile looking appreciatively at him.

Robin's lips slowly twisted up into his signature grin as he looked her up and down causing Marian to blush prettily overtaken by a sudden bout of shyness, "I'd be perfectly fine with that arrangement as long as you promise to wear the clothes I'm not," his voice was hoarse and scratchy and gave Marian chills, "My clothes seem to suit you _very_ well."

"Marking your territory Robin?" she asked playfully passing him the drink, which he took gratefully.

He looked at her surprised, "Are you my territory now?" Marian bit her lip as he downed the entire glass in one swallow, watching with a sick fascination as his adam's apple moved as he gulped, she was so far gone.

"Well I was thinking about last night," Robin visibly winced, whether from the sunlight or the memory she wasn't sure.

"Oh God Marian I'm so sorry, I was so out of line I have no idea what I was thinking, well I do, but I shouldn't have been thinking it. I was just so, so drunk and I know that's not an excuse, but if you would just – " Robin rambled on sitting up in the bed facing her.

"ROBIN!" he looked up at her, his face a mixture of surprise and preparation for pain, Marian laughed and shook her head, "Robin its okay, I know. I'm not mad."

He ran a hand through his already messy hair, "But you _should_ be Marian! You talk about _me_ being too good of a person. I mean I practically _raped_ you last night!"

Marian just laughed again, "Robin you did _not_ almost rape me. Trust me. And I'm not mad, but if you really feel _that_ badly about it, then I _guess_ I could have you make it up to me."

Robin raised an eyebrow at the playful tone of her voice, "Ask and you shall receive my lady," he joked. Marian took a deep breath and looked him straight in the eye, her icy blue irises no longer laughing, "Ask me to be your girlfriend again."

Although Robin's face didn't change one millimeter his mind was racing, it seemed impossible that this was happening. Silence filled the spaces of Marian's room as the two were locked into the others eyes unable to look away, but unable to speak either. Finally Robin said, "Marian I don't want you to be my girlfriend," her eyes widened in shock and an outraged voice in her head was screaming _WHAT_ but she was too shocked to speak.

Robin chuckled quietly at the expression on her face, and he lifted a hand up to her neck pulling her towards him, she did not resist, she didn't think it was possible for her body to resist his touch now, not after knowing what the feelings he could inspire in her. "I don't want you to be my girlfriend because you are already something infinitely more important, and it almost seems like a step backwards. But for now," he took a deep breath, still somehow worried she would reject him, "Will you be my girlfriend?"

Marian let out a breathy laugh and leaned in brushing her soft lips against his in the lightest of a kiss, "Of course Robin." She felt his lips turn into a smile against her lips and couldn't stop hers from following. Raising her hands to his shoulders she gently pushed him back in the bed.

"This has got to be the _best_ punishment I've ever received…." Robin muttered against her skin and she giggled, "Just wait…"

**Elsewhere**

Djaq was sitting on her orange futon staring at her chemistry homework, she was on the third problem, she looked up at her clock, she'd been on the third problem for a half hour. She rubbed her eyes in frustration trying to zone back in, but her thoughts just kept wandering. More specifically wandering to the party last night.

The image of Marian holding up a drunken Robin and walking him out the door had been circulating in her mind for a while. The concerned look in Marian's eyes and the absolute tortured adoration in Robin's. She shook her head brushing her silky black bangs from her forehead. She wasn't jealous. Exactly.

Okay so she was jealous.

Not because Marian was now dating her boyfriend of almost two years, but because there was no one looking at _her_ that way anymore. At least while she and Robin were dating for the most of it she'd gotten a few looks like that, none as powerful as the one Robin gave Marian, I mean Djaq had been several feet away, but the power of that smoldering look ha given her chills. Well her and every other girl there, except for Marian who just continued on her crusade to get Robin into the car, maybe that was why they were so perfect for each other. Then of course all the girls started gossiping about Marian, all the while giving Djaq looks of pity, which only barely covered up the looks that clearly said _good you deserve this for taking Robin off the market for so long_.

Djaq just rolled her eyes at the girls, but between them and the guys that suddenly started hitting on her she left the party early. On the way home it began to occur to her that she'd seen Robin like that before, drunk off his ass. Usually the result of some spat with his father not that anyone outside the gang knew that, they all just thought he liked to party, which was somewhat true. She'd seen him that way before while they'd been dating, but she'd never acted as Marian had, the caring girlfriend. She'd always just let Robin get it out of his system; she thought that's what he needed. What he really needed was someone like Marian who seemed to know instinctively how to make all his problems all better. Djaq felt no bitterness to Marian for being that person for Robin, only glad that Robin had found someone so perfect for him.

She let out another sigh; at this rate her lungs were probably going to collapse under the strain of sighing so often. She wanted her Marian now; however odd that may sound. When she and Robin has ended things she could almost hear the pieces falling into place, she thought the happy ending was just around the corner. And she was right, just not _her_ happy ending, only Robins.

This time it was an angry sigh that left her lips. She rolled her eyes at her own ridiculousness, but still was feeling very much like a petulant four year old. Mentally berating herself for not being above this type of typical teenage behavior her other side fought back saying she had every right to be a cliché teenage girl once in a while.

This time it was an exasperated sigh. She had to do something, arguing with herself was not healthy she was fairly sure. She flipped open her phone shoving problem three as far away from her as she could and giving it a nasty glare as it all this were its fault. She scrolled down her contact list landing on the same number she always did. Will Scarlett.

She hadn't let herself acknowledge that his name had been floating around in her head for the past few days, or that in her happy ending scenario he'd played a rather prominent role. She stared at the photo of him by his number, and sighed, a wanton one this time. She adored everything about him, honestly if she wrote down her exact 'type' of guy she might as well be describing him, who knows maybe she was.

She loved his height, how she came up to a point on his chest right below his heart and she could always hear it beating when she leaned against him, with Robin she'd been at his shoulder and it had always seemed awkward to her. She loved the way his dark brown hair was so long and framed his stormy grey eyes perfectly. His eyes, she could write pages and pages about his eyes and still have more to say, they were just so _pretty._ Sure most boys wouldn't like to be described as pretty, but Will Scarlett was definitely pretty: his body was perfectly long and lean, his movements were always slow and graceful, of course his eyes, which were not only a striking color, but also the way he used them, she could always feel his eyes on her as if they were touching her, always watching, so observant and perceptive of everything not just herself, he saw so much more than other people did in everything.

She sighed again: wistfully. He was always the first one she called: when she couldn't sleep, when she wanted someone to talk to while standing alone so it didn't look like she had no friends (not that he knew that's why she was calling), when she and Robin had a fight, when she was unsure about her future, when she didn't want to think about her future anymore, it was always him. She blushed a little remembering when her sister had asked her why she was constantly calling Will and she'd been a little worse for the alcohol and had actually admitted that she was always calling him so that she'd never have to wonder if he would ever call her. Most people thought he was quiet, but he was just reserved with people he didn't know. They would talk on the phone for hours, she could fall asleep listening to the low tone of his voice, which soothed her and excited her all at once. That was another thing: she loved his voice.

This time it was a sigh of frustration, when exactly had she become so obsessed with Will? It was a rhetorical question because she knew she could pinpoint the exact moment with no hesitation.

**~ 2 years ago ~**

Dlaq had recently started at Sherwood and Robin had approached her the very first day practically demanding a friendship, but with a grin and a genuine goodness in his eye that made him impossible to refuse. She'd fell into the gang easily enough, taking an interest in getting to know them all, especially the tall dark haired boy that hadn't even said three words to her (he had said "hello" and "Will" but that was it) but his eyes watched everything so carefully she was just itching to know what he thought about all he saw.

The day in question though was the 17 of November and Robin had taken her paintballing for the first time. It was painful, but she'd always been a bit of a fighter and had really enjoyed it, then they'd headed back to Robin's house, which by now she was very familiar with, the gang spent almost every moment they weren't in school in the East Wing. She'd demanded the use of one of the showers; she really wasn't too fond of the smell of paint or the way the neon green in her hair looked. Robin had just laughed and accommodated her, as always.

The steam of the hot jets of water soothed all the aches from her body and the paint rolled off creating a rainbow on the shower floor. She used the nice shampoo on her short hair and grudgingly turned off the shower. She stood in the steam for a few minutes just reveling in the feeling of being clean. Then she remembered she was at Robins house and he was probably waiting for her to finish. She flung back the shower curtain just as the door flung open.

Her brown eyes grew wide in shock, as did the silver ones opposite her.

Will was standing on the opposite side of the bathroom, due to the way the room was designed a counter blocked his view of the lower portion of her body, but the top, the very, very bare top, was left completely unobstructed for his eyes to see.

She felt herself blush, but knew it wouldn't be too visible on her dark skin, but apart from the movement of her blood to her face she was completely immobile. She couldn't move, not to cover herself, not to turn away, not to yell at him to turn away, frozen in place by his stare, pinned. Her eyes zeroed in on him and found that his grey silver eyes were staring right back at her, they connected. Slowly his gaze dropped lower, she could feel it.

First his eyes on her hair, following a water droplet that dripped from her soaked bangs down the bridge of her nose. Then his eyes dropped to her lips, she could almost feel it. Then to her slender shoulders and her collarbone, and then lower still. By the time his eyes reached…erm…there they were no longer a silver grey, but nearly black. Somehow he seemed to snap out of it and the next thing she knew she was staring at a closed door and he was no where to be seen.

The entire episode could not have taken longer than 30 seconds, but before God she had never felt a longer 30 seconds in her life. She'd also never felt more beautiful, or as alive, every single part of her body had been electrified. The embarrassment came later when he passed by her and whispered a quick "sorry" (his third word to her).

Somehow that had opened up a chasm between then and maybe he felt obligated to answer her questions, but he began talking to her, more than one word at a time, and she found herself listening. Soon he was the one she felt closest to in the gang. Then just as her feelings for him were whipping her around in a vortex of feelings she didn't yet understand why she was feeling Robin had asked her out. She'd said yes and the next time she'd passed by Will she whispered an almost silent "sorry".

**~ Now ~**

She sighed: frustrated. Then flipped her phone closed. She'd lost her chance, she knew it. All that time ago maybe he'd been interested in her, but she'd said yes to Robin and that was the kiss of death to any hope she had for her and Will. He 'd never go after his best mate's girl, and apparently even though they'd broken up that rule still applied. She hadn't called him since the break-up, finally putting the ball back in his court. To see if he would call her. But he hadn't. He was best friends with Robin and Allen and Much, he _had_ to have heard about the break-up there was no way he hadn't. Yet he hadn't called or come to visit at all. Even the days before the break-up he'd been strangely distant. He must've known what was coming, known Robin was going to break up with her and didn't want her to come running to him thinking that he'd take her in.

She wrapped her arms around herself trying to block out the thoughts of rejection and feverishly hoping that wasn't true. She placated herself by saying they'd broken up on Friday and it was only Sunday, maybe he thought she'd need time to heal or something. That was believable enough, he didn't have any sister so the only source for how females deal with break-ups he had was movies or TV and they always showed some poor girl crying her eyes out and eating copious amounts of crappy food. No wonder he was nowhere to be found. She wouldn't want to deal with some sniveling fat version of herself either.

She heard a loud knock on her door. She frowned but got up to answer it, pulling it open she was suddenly swept up into a pair of thin but muscular arms and her feet lifted from the floor. An uncontrollable smile came to her face.

"Djaq! Thank god your okay!" he put her down, his large hands coming up to cup her face, "You are okay aren't you?" he asked concerned searching her face like it would spell out the answer.

"Yes, of course," Djaq replied confused, but happy when his expression cleared and he stood up, "God I cant believe this happened! I mean I go out of town for 2 days! 2 fucking days! And I get back and all hell has broken loose!"

Djaq nodded in understanding, so he'd been gone and only now heard about the break-up. She made no attempt to quell the rising hope in her heart. "It's fine Will, really its totally okay," Djaq pulled him into her room closing the door softly behind him so as not to attract attention from her nosy siblings. Will was unaware of the change and just continued pacing inside.

"No it is most definitely _not_ okay! How could they do this? How could _he_ do this! I mean you dated for nearly 2 years! You must be so upset Djaq, god I'm so sorry I wasn't here," Will said running his hands through his hair briefly looking at her with grief apparent in his eyes.

"Really Will, I'm okay," she said touched by his concern, the hope that had blossomed before was now having a full on mardis gras parade in her stomach.

"You shouldn't be! Hell I know _I'm _not okay! I mean he _knew, _he knew this _entire_ time how I felt!" And at Wills words just like the parade was officially rained on.

_How _he_ felt_?!!? Robin knew how _he_ felt? What did that mean? Immediately Djaq's mind began racing, it could only really mean one thing. Robin knew that Will liked Marian, but had asked her out anyways and now Will was mad. It was the only thing that made sense. Djaq felt her eyes begin to sting with tears, _of course_ Will wouldn't be interested in _her_. Why would he like someone like her, Djaq with her short hair and short height, when bloody Marian was around? A wave of spiking jealousy and anger shot through her making her feel sick, she gripped the sides of her stomach. Djaq could see it all clearly now, poor Will in love with Marian and then had her ripped away from him, but he was still a good enough guy to come and make sure his _friend_ Djaq was okay.

She stayed silent as Will fumed pacing back and forth, refusing to let the tears fall. The door she was resting heavily on was the only thing keeping her upright. She felt as if all the air had been forced out of her. She finally zoned back in when she heard an anguished groan from Will. Shaking her head she cleared out all her self-pitying thoughts and resolved to be a friend to Will as he was to her, she would comfort him through his lost love of Marian even if it killed her.

Stepping towards him she rested a hand on Wills shoulder, "I'm so sorry Will. I know she meant a lot to you." This seemed to get Will's attention, he spun around a confused look on his brow, "What?" Djaq swallowed, gathering her strength, if she had any left, "Marian, I know you liked her and Robin still went for her. I'm sorry."

Will stared at her incredulously for a moment, and silence echoed throughout her room, never had she heard a louder silence than right now when Will was looking at her like she'd grown another head.

Then he started laughing.

Full out, head thrown back, laughter, ten times louder than the ear shattering silence. "What!?!?" he said gasping for breath as he calmed down, "I'm not mad at Robin for taking Marian," he looked at her with a smile playing on his lips and once again his hands came up to cup her face, "I'm mad at him because he hurt you." Djaq was stunned silent, once again frozen by Will's eyes, this time a light grey filled with what seemed like mirth and self-mocking.

"I always told myself 'Will, he's a better man. If there's one guy out there that could possibly deserve her, its Robin' and now it turns out he's isn't the better man at all. He's just an idiot like the rest of us. Leaving _you_ for Marian of all people?" Will shook his head but continued, "All this time, 2 fucking years I was telling myself not to go for it, not to tell you how I felt because Robin was better for you because he'd gotten there first. And now to find out that he did _this_ to you? God it makes me so angry! I wasted so much time we could've been together."

The tears spilled out of Djaq's eyes, big fat rivulets of water dripping down her cheeks and onto Will's hands. At the sight his eyes immediately softened, and then promptly filled with guilt. He pulled her into his chest, "I'm sorry, God this is probably the _last_ thing you need to deal with right now," rubbing soothing circles against the small of her back, just like he knew she loved, "The love of your life just breaks up with you and your best friend starts declaring himself like a dumbass. This is probably the last thing you want to hear. I'll just go and we can pretend this never happened," Will said disentangling himself from Djaq and heading towards the door, his head down defeated.

"No Will!!!" Djaq cried grabbing onto his elbow as fear gripped her heart, "No Will stay!" she said, and once he'd stopped a silly smile worked its way to Djaq's face. He refused to face her, but at least he wasn't running for the exit, she thought as she dried her tears. She rested her cheek on his back and wrapped her arms around his chest, hugging him from behind, she felt him tense then slowly begin to relax. He could feel her lips moving against his back as she said, "The tears are not for Robin, Will. They have always, are always, and will always be for _you_."

Will said nothing, but she felt his hands slowly wrap around her wrists breaking her grip around his chest. He turned around, but kept the hold on her wrists, which looked small and delicate encased in his hands, and slowly slowly bent down so they were eye level and wiped another stray tear off her smiling face.

He was not smiling, in fact his entire face was serious, except for his grey eyes which held an immeasurable amount of kindness in them, he spoke slowly as if he was choosing his every word very carefully, "If they are _my_ tears than I only ever want them to be of joy. Are they?"

In this, the moment Djaq had dreamed of since that fateful day, all words eluded her and she could do no more than nod her head, but that was enough for Will apparently because his entire face lit up, like the sun appearing from nowhere on a cloudy day.

He leaned down and captured her bottom lip between his own and an eruption of fireworks exploded in her stomach. He released her wrists and she moved them up to clasp behind his neck, softly pulling at the ends of his hair. His arms wrapped around her middle and lifted her up, as if she weighed less than air. He walked forward until Djaq felt her back hit the wall of her room softy and clasped her legs around his waist.

A smile tugged at her lips, just as it did his and they had to break the soft kiss, resting their foreheads together smiling. This time she leaned in and pressed her lips firmly against his, but again the happiness was bubbling over and smiled broke apart their kiss. They followed this pattern again and again. _Kiss… Smile… Kiss…Smile… _And for many more days…

**Review!!!**


	12. The End

4

**Author's Note: **Last Chapter. I'll admit I've become very attached to this story, so I'm kinda sad that it's ending, but also really proud that I've finally completed a story. I just want to thank all you people reading, honestly for those of you that review it is what motivated me to keep writing this story, especially the loyal reviewers like **Magpie287,** **Goldangel 121**, **starx,** **bozley01,** and **Nicoley117**). I have actually written another Robin Hood BBC story _Love Hate Relationship_, it isn't as good, but if any of you are suffering from some separation anxiety now that the story is over feel free to check it out. The Last chapter is short, but just ties up a few loose ends. Enjoy!

**Not My Place**

**Chapter 12 – The End**

The gang were all sitting at their usual table for lunch. Marian was sitting on Robin's lap, his arms encircling her waist occasionally ticking her when he felt she wasn't paying enough attention to him, which made her smile. Will and Djaq were next to them, to anyone looking it would appear that nothing was going on, but under the table a frisky game of footsie was happening. Eve was out sick that day, and her seat next to Djaq was empty however Much was happily eating only eyeing her empty seat with a sad look once or twice. Allen was on the other side of Much, texting at a rate so fast his fingers were sure to start bleeding soon.

As always there was a heated discussion going on. Their voices had started out at a polite decibel, but as always happened to them they all wanted to speak at once and quickly their voices were rising. Almost everyone at the lunch tables could hear Robin's gang going at it. Always laughing, always smiling, always teasing each other (usually Much).

"Who _are_ you always texting Allen," Marian demanded, "I'm beginning to think that phone is permanently attached to your hand." Allen mumbled a reply, but didn't lift his gaze up from his now vibrating phone; a smirk came to his features as he read his new text.

"Yea, what's going on Allen?" Djaq asked suspiciously. Will shot Allen a wink, his friend having confided in him several days earlier, but he was the only one that knew. When Allen failed to reply to that statement Robin grinned and lightening quick reached over and snatched Allen's precious phone out of his hands.

"Oi!" Allen said lunging to get it back, but Marian ran interference. Robin scrolled through the texts, and let out a loud laugh.

"Gang, it seems as if one of our own has been keeping secrets," Robin declared with a full-blown smile.

"Robin I'm warning you…" Allen threatened, his face going pale as a new text beeped on his phone.

"But I doubt he'll be able to keep it for long," Robin muttered reading the new text, "Because apparently Allen's _girlfriend_," he checked the screen, "Kate. Got accepted to our school."

"What!!!" Allen said, a happy smile taking over his face, "Lemme see." Successfully grabbing his phone back, fingers flying as he replied. The rest of the gang laughed at the love struck Allen, happy for their friend. Just then the bell rang and the gang ruefully parted ways, making plans to meet in the East Wing after school.

As they all spread out across the large campus, Robin grabbed Marian's wrist and began pulling her towards the forests. "Robin! What are you doing? We'll be late," Marian questioned in a hurried voice.

"Oh come on Marian, skive off this class with me. It's a beautiful day, we can't waste it in a classroom! Plus your history class is covering the Crusades, and you know how prickly you get about that." Robin argued as they sped towards the forest, moving quickly so that no teachers would catch them through the windows. Marian laughed as she ran along with him. She didn't really like skipping class, but it was just _too_ beautiful a day.

They rushed into the trees, not slowing down until they buried deep in the heart of the forest. Robin surveyed the clearing where they had ended up, hands on his hips, and seemed content with the location before flopping down onto the grass. Marian, slightly more lady like followed his example.

They were both lying on their backs on the grass, Marian angled her face so she could look at Robin properly, she cheek was on his shoulder and his arm was around her toying with one of her curls the scent of the trees and the dirt and the fresh grass all around them permenting their senses with beautiful reality of nature.

"Robin?" Marian asked, and he looked at her, "If I were to die right now, what would you do?" she asked curiously. Robin raised his eyebrows and considered her question, to anyone else he probably would've laughed or assumed they were joking, but he could tell she was serious.

"I don't really know," he said his gaze shifting back to the canopy of trees above them as he pondered the question, "It goes without saying that I'd miss you, I'd probably fall apart without you Marian," he paused, "I think I'd try to forget you, or maybe pretend you were just on holiday or something because if I ever really accepted it, I don't think I could… I wouldn't be able to…" he became flustered at that point, and it shook Marian knowing that even just thinking about a life without her was making him react so strongly.

"I know Robin, me too" Marian said quietly, and held him tighter, "I'm right here though, at least for the foreseeable future," she said trying to lighten the mood, but he just pulled her closer in to him, so that she was half lying on top of him.

"But not for long," he said grimly and she looked up at him questionably, so he explained, "The way you drink and live at your dad's its not," he paused searching for the word, his body growing tense and frustrated, "good, healthy, a lifestyle that will keep you alive for much longer, it's…its going to kill you Marian, and it will escalate I know it will and it will get worse and worse and so will you, and at some point your dad will notice and he'll take you away from me, and that will be the end of us." He looked so distressed, his brilliant green eyes shining with apprehension and maybe even panic.

"Shhh Robin," Marian consoled him running her hand along his cheek turning his head so their eyes connected in an intense stare, "There will never be an end to us," he nodded and she silently vowed to stop all the bad things she was doing if not for herself than for Robin, "We will always be together," Robin took his hand and intertwined their fingers together, his body relaxing, Marian's eyes shifted above to the leaves above them that let small rays of sunlight fall all around them, making the forest seem alive with magic, "In this life, and the next."

**The End**


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